Lessons in Love
by Beckon
Summary: Those purple lips of hers remained in a slight upturn as she placed her hands against the smooth oak of his desk and leaned in towards him; locking those purple eyes onto his. "I know exactly who you are."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm trying out a new story idea that I've had for awhile now but just started to plan out. Hopefully I can get it to work and if not...well then I hope I at least had a good start to it. **

"I don't see why you're putting up such a huge fuss over this."

Ishida groaned and turned to face the white-dressed assistant. "For the last time, I don't need a secretary to help me. I can manage everything perfectly fine by myself. When was the last time I turned in a late report or forgot to sign off on a prescription?"

"Well…never but still, this is a lot of work for just one man."

"Okay here, we're going to take a different approach to this." Ishida spoke; adjusting his glasses. "Who put you up to this? I know you Albert, and I for one know that you would never step out of your line to do something like this. So obviously you weren't the one who put out an ad for a secretary position and you weren't the one who held the interviews; you also weren't the one who picked out whoever matched the set criteria. So why don't you just spill it?"

The blonde-haired man sighed in unfortunate defeat. "Yeah well…I wasn't supposed to tell…but since you already figured it out…it was your father."

He swore he felt the color slowly drain away from his face. "Are you telling me that Ryuken put you up to this?"

"Actually almost the entire staff knew about it…but yeah." Albert nodded; watching as the dark-haired doctor seemed suddenly agitated. "Hey man, he's the director and he's your father so we just kind of figured he knew what he was doing."

"No see, that's where he gets you; Ryuken never knows what the fuck he's doing." Ishida muttered as he slowly kneaded his temples at an oncoming headache.

"Look, just because he's not currently in the building and pretty much left the hospital to you, doesn't mean he's still not making decisions." Albert reminded. "Where did he go anyways?"

"I don't know and I don't care." Ishida replied. In retrospect, he really didn't know. It wasn't like the old man ever told him anything about what he was doing, after all how else did this whole thing start up. "As long as I don't have to see him, I couldn't care less where he is."

Albert was about to comment on the harsh remark but decided to keep it to himself. "Okay here, why don't you at least meet the new girl and just let her work for a few days. If you don't like having her help then we can fire her. Deal?"

He wasn't much for compromises that had anything to do with Ryuken behind them but at this time he didn't want to deal with the matter anymore. Plus going out there and telling the woman that she was fired barely on her first day working was fairly harsh for someone who was just innocently caught up in this matter. "Yeah, deal. But just to get one thing out of the way, I'm still holding this against you and every staff member involved."

"Well that's better than firing us I guess." Albert chuckled. "But you gotta see this lady, she is a total babe."

Of course, leave it to Albert to make such a remark, as if there was ever a moment where the man wasn't talking about women. Ishida sighed and slowly followed the man out of his office. Yeah, his very own office in the hospital. Then again, after graduating high school with the highest honors and then repeating the same thing in college and throughout med school, well really an office just seemed necessary to have. As for Ryuken…the man just seemed to disappear after he took over the clinic. He was obviously still working as director though, in some way or form- kind of like a ghost it seemed at times. But like he mentioned before, as long as he didn't have to personally see or hear from the man, he was completely okay with it. As long as he could just work in some odd sense of peace knowing that another confrontation with the man was very slim to none…hell the days would seem just perfect.

From his office, which was set fairly far back into the hospital, the two took the first floor main corridor straight down towards the front lobby. Different examining rooms and an assortment of others lined doorway after doorway down the long-winded hallway; adjoining corridors branched out to their right and eventually disappeared into the maze that made up the first floor. With the E.R. located in the Eastern wing of the building, part of the ICU ward in the Southern area and just filing rooms and offices in the Western compartment, it was very easy to get lost on just the first floor…let alone in the rest of the building, which was composed of three or so different stories.

"Now before you say anything, the new girl does look fairly young but I hear she is very qualified for the job." Albert spoke as the two neared the large lobby-like area. "She's great with organizing files and folders for you, she's good with people which is awesome since she's kind of doubling as a desk maid right now as well and she's just overall good-looking, which will keep bringing people back."

"Just so you know, people don't necessarily want to keep coming back to a hospital." Ishida reminded. "That's not a good thing."

"Either way, I don't think we'll be hearing too many complaints from people about having to wait in the lobby for long periods of time."

"You know, sometimes I worry about you…then I remember I don't really care."

"Thanks for the support, man."

Ishida rolled his eyes slightly before the two stepped out into the much larger lobby area. He sighed and looked around at the few number of people seated sporadically in the room; half of them kept themselves occupied with magazines and the other half were messing around on their cell phones.

Typical.

"Ah, Miss. Sanderwitch, I'm glad you could make it." Albert spoke.

He looked up and watched as a light-haired woman turned at the words. Her thick purple hair was pulled back into black clip; allowing the curly strands to fall stylishly to the back of her neck. She had a softly shaped face with piercing purple eyes and full lips that matched with the same shade and color. Her neck was carefully adorned with yet another purple accessory, a choker. A white blouse clung to her sculpted upper body with a modest plunging neckline that showed off her deep collarbones; her sleeves were cuffed just a few inched above her elbows with small gold buckles, showing off her slender yet lean forearms that ended in delicate hands and fingers. A light ruffled material ran down the middle of the shirt, slightly masking the black buttons that pulled the blouse together, and ended just at the hemline which helped to shape out her narrow, balancing hips. A white, pencil skirt formed around her seemingly full thighs and skimmed just above her knees; showing off the rest of her slender, curved legs that ended perfectly in a matching set of white heels.

Those purple lips turned up into a rather generous-looking smile. "I want to thank you for having me and allowing me to become a member of your staff on such short notice."

"Think nothing of it." Albert replied. "Now then, I want to introduce you to the doctor who you'll be taking care of. This is Dr. Uryu Ishida, Ishida this is Miss. Sanderwich."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." she smiled; holding her hand out to him.

That voice made his blood run cold through his veins just like seeing those eyes made his entire body turn stiff. He knew those eyes… It was impossible though…those eyes shouldn't even be looking back at him. There was no way…no way possible.

"Uh…Albert, can I speak to you for a moment?" Ishida questioned. He didn't wait for the nurse to reply and instead grabbed him by the sleeve of his scrubs and pulled him back into the hallway; making sure they were well out of range of eavesdropping. "What- where did she come from?"

"Okay first off, that was kind of rude and second, that's a weird question." Albert replied as he managed to wiggle out of his grip. "What's your problem, man? You're like paler than you normally are. Do you… do you know that chick?"

"Yes- I mean no!" Ishida quickly corrected. "I just…she looks like someone I used to know."

"And is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

He sighed and closed his eyes, unsure of really how to answer it. "She just…she looks like someone I knew who…died, okay?"

"Ah man…I'm sorry."

He let out a mental sigh of relief. Dodged a bullet with that one. "It just kind of freaked me out-"

"Paging Dr. Ishida; you're wanted in Room 101." the static voice of the intercom interrupted overhead.

"Damn…" Ishida muttered. "Look, I've got a busy schedule today so could you just help her get settled in." he didn't bother to wait for the man to reply and instead hurried along to the given destination he was called to.

**

* * *

**

The light click of his office door closing behind him seemed like it couldn't come fast enough. Sighing heavily, he pushed aside his dark bangs as he walked over to his semi-crowded desk and collapsed into his leather chair. The clock on the wall clicked at only five-thirty, which meant he would have to deal with more patients for four more hours…if he was lucky. This wasn't a nine-to-five job, more like a six-to-whenever-patients-stopped-coming-in or when the night nurses could handle the injuries. Either way, he often times just pulled all-nighters because of the constant flow of patients coming in through the E.R.; that and because there wasn't a second doctor on staff yet, he had to handle everything. It wasn't too much to handle though, there were enough patients to keep him busy but not enough to be too overwhelming. Although it still wouldn't hurt to have another doctor helping to run the place, at least that way he could get a break every now and then. Maybe they should've looked into hiring another doctor instead of more secretaries.

A chill shot through his body as he remembered her. God…she looked just like her; she sounded just like her. Those eyes… But it was impossible. He was just freaking out over nothing. It was just mere coincidence that the woman happened to resembled that…that Espada. It was probably just another college-bound teen who dyed their hair and was looking to make an easy buck. Plus, her name was different…similar but different enough to give her another identity. As long as he just avoided the lobby area and made as little contact with her as possible, then he could just easily forget about the whole thing.

He looked up as someone knocked at his office door before he carefully arranged himself to seem a bit more professional. "Come in."

"Sorry for interrupting." that secretary…what was her name again? Sanderwich? "But you received some new files while you were taking care of patients."

"Oh…well, thank you." he replied; careful to watch his words. "Uh…I'll just take the files then."

She smiled lightly and walked over to hand them to him. "Also, someone left a message for you earlier."

"Did you happen to write it down?" Ishida questioned.

"No but I can recite it for you." she smiled.

He tried not to seem too annoyed by her giddy-kind of attitude. "Okay…" he replied slowly.

Those purple lips of hers remained in a slight upturn as she placed her hands against the smooth oak of his desk and leaned in towards him; locking those purple eyes onto his. "I know exactly who you are." her happy tone from before had been replaced with a slightly deeper and darker tint. "And I know for a fact that you know who I am. You can't fool me…Quincy."

That last word seemed to snap off the tip of her tongue. It felt like everything inside of him completely shut down for a moment. "…Thunderwitch."

"Don't spoil such a beautiful name on that ugly tongue of yours." she remarked with a light sneer. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions and you probably want a lot of answer for them. Well guess what, Quincy? That's just too damn bad. I guess you'll just have to sit here in your nicely furnished office and contemplate over it; maybe if you're lucky, it'll drive you insane. But off on that note, you just listen to me and you take every word I say to heart. You don't say a word about this or so help you, you just look in my direction wrong and I'll rip that tongue of yours clean out of your mouth. Do we have an understanding here, Quincy? You think this is a coincidence that I ended up here? No…no, I've been looking for you and guess what? Now that I've found you…I'm not letting you go. I've finally got you Quincy, and from here on out, I'm going to make your life…a living hell."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So slowly working myself through this story and it looks like it just might work out. Thanks for the reviews!**

'_-I'm going to make your life…a living hell."_

Those nine words continued to ring over and over again in his head.

The drive home was completely occupied by thoughts of her, which would explain how he almost crashed about four times between the hospital and his house. Even inside with all the doors and windows locked for the night, there was still some kind of primitive fear.

How?

How was this possible?

How was she here?

Why the hell was she here?

Even the cold water raining down from the shower head couldn't keep her out of his thoughts. He curled his fingers against the white tiles and simply let the water run over every inch of his body. She talked to him for a minute or two at most and yet…God it was like he was already paranoid. Not just with seeing her, hearing her and knowing that she existed once more…but with the questions. She only made it worse by bringing the topic up and adding even more fuel to the fire.

Fuck…why couldn't things just remain in the past?

His fingertips brushed at the still dark-red scar over his left shoulder. He could still hear the sound of her weapon cutting through flesh, and muscle; grinding away at the bone till it felt like it was going to break clean in half under the pressure. It was the only scar he had that still continued to hurt even now. Hell, he still had smaller scars from where the tip of her whip had struck him and easily split open his skin. But that one…that one always reminded him of her.

He didn't feel hate towards her though…some part of him wouldn't allow him to.

"Why did it have to be you, Cirucci Thunderwitch?"

**

* * *

**

The drive to work in the morning was a bit more…relaxing after a mild-deserved night of sleep. The hardest part would actually be walking into the building. He thought about just entering through the E.R. but decided against it; there was no reason why she should frighten him and there was no reason he should allow himself to be frightened by her. She caught him off-guard…hell he was still off-guard but at least he would be better prepared this time if she were to make an encounter. But she wasn't stupid. She would spend her time watching and waiting for the perfect moment to corner him. She was smart; that's one of many things that hadn't changed about her.

Walking through the lobby doors, he watched as even at seven in the morning there were still a few people seated in the large room. A few were clustered around the magazine table, while others were spread apart from each other and found their own means of entertainment, either by the blandly decorated carpet underneath them or by the TV that hung from the corner and played re-runs of last night's news reports. The lobby itself was only decorated with a few fake plants and a few paintings that hung on the walls but then again, not a lot of people were looking forward to sitting in a room like this for hours possibly on end. Still though, it was better than resembling something that looked like a prison cell.

His dark eyes looked up at the empty desk that was settled next to the open hallway leading into the actual hospital. She probably hadn't showed up for work yet… He hoped so, at least that way he could avoid her as best he could from the start. Continuing down the corridor, he watched as nurses and office assistants walked back and forth past him; most were dressed in solid colored scrubs while an occasional one would have some kind of odd pattern or design on theirs. As long as the work was getting done and patients were happy, he couldn't careless about what they wore. Coming up to his office, he took note of the files that had been clipped to his door. Sighing, he gathered the five or so that were in there and pushed the office door open.

Wait…he locked it just before he left last night, didn't he?

"Morning, Four Eyes."

He locked up slightly at the voice before he looked up from the files in hand to the purple-haired woman who was seated on his desk. Always with that grin.

"Well well now, you can't just stand there and look stupid, which is easy for you, while all those patients are out there waiting for you to tend to bloody noses and ear aches." Cirucci spoke; holding up even more files for him. Pushing herself off the desk, she landed easily on her white stilettos before walking over to where he stood in the doorway. She pressed the files into his hands and moved her body just a bit too close to his own as she stepped through the doorway. Those purple eyes never once leaving his own till she turned and headed back to the front desk in the lobby.

"Dude I think she likes you."

He shuddered at the thought and turned back to the nurse behind him, who was clearly checking out the woman. "Albert…get back to your nursing station and just stay there." with that, he slammed his office door behind him. "Ugh, Jesus Cirucci…" he sighed and collapsed into his chair. It was only the second day and she already had him running on his last nerves. Something about her…she just looked so normal and human…and it was frightening. But she still looked the same, just without the teardrop cheeks, the wings, and the whip…although he noted that she continued to wear white regardless. Maybe some part of her soul was still connected to her former Espada self. Which still brought up the question of how she was here.

He could guess several different ways how but…none of them seemed to fit together into this type of situation. He supposed he could call Ichigo about it but he really preferred not to. Not that there were any harsh things between them, he would rather just try to solve this one on his own. He really needed to ask the woman in question but knowing her…the answers weren't going to be easy to come by. Unfortunately that would mean he would have to sit back and watch for the perfect opportunity to do so, which was not going to be easy.

Sighing, he set the files on his desk before he pushed himself out of his chair. He would deal with the files later, for now he had other patients to tend to and several surgeries to perform. Or were the surgeries scheduled for tomorrow?

**

* * *

**

It seemed like the last time he glanced out the window it was seven in the morning and now the clocks were already chiming in at eleven. Setting aside the last report on the second surgery he finished that evening, he let out a long sigh and fell back in his seat. Sometimes he wonder if he spent more time in his office or in the scattered hospital rooms. All he had to say was thank God the hospital upgraded and finally put in that second elevator.

The day had been fairly slow with more patients leaving rather than coming in, which meant there was a good chance his phone wasn't going to ring in the middle of the night and drag him back in. Pushing himself out of his chair, he grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and made sure to remember to grab the files as well. Stepping out of the office, he locked the door behind him and started down the long corridor that lead into the front lobby. There were several nurses who browsed around in the lounge drinking day-old, lukewarm coffee; other nurses grouped around in the hallways and around the front desks that were situated just outside of the lobby. The nightshift was beginning to arrive as the slow off-duty nurses and workers began to head out into the cool night air.

He placed the files on the empty front desk and slipped on his jacket before he stepped out into the pitch-dark night. The parking lot seemed kind of eerie with darkness covering half of the large area and with a light fog slightly beginning to settle, it added to the ominous mood. But it's not like he was worried by the eeriness of it; it was just the parking lot in front of a hospital, no need to panic. Pulling his keys out of his jacket pocket as he neared his own vehicle, he carefully slid the key into the lock and twisted it till a light click signaled its' release.

"It's been a long night covered in blood, hasn't it been Quincy?"

The voice caught him off-guard and caused him to drop his keys as soon as he had pulled them loose. He turned to watch her grin as she walked past him and to the purple Legacy parked next to his white Accord Crosstour.

"Yep, nothing like going home after a long day of filing papers and dealing with some guy who keeps staring at my ass." she continued; balancing her jacket and bag on one arm as she unlocked her car with her free hand. "God, I hope my housemate remembered to feed the cat this time."

"How?" he questioned.

She shrugged and pulled open the driver side door open long enough to toss in her jacket and bag. "I don't know, I guess it's because the cat's lazy as hell anyways, so it doesn't make too much of an effort to get noticed-"

"No, I mean how…how are you here? How are you standing here?" he rephrased.

"Oh well, I'm here because I was hired for this job and I'm standing on these gorgeous legs of mine." she grinned.

She was taunting him ONCE again.

"You know damn well what I mean." Ishida replied.

"Didn't I tell you that was for me to know and for you to figure out?" she reminded; spinning her keys around on her finger. She walked over and set her hands down on the hood of his vehicle. "Come on four-eyes, I'm sure somewhere in that rambling, slow mind of yours is the answer. You just have to work hard for it and want it bad enough."

He watched as she straightened back up and returned to her own vehicle. "Okay well…when a person dies, their soul goes to Soul Society and I'm going to make an assumption that that's where all souls go no matter whether the person is human or hollow. So somehow your soul got mixed up and ended up here, in the human world? But that doesn't make much sense. How are you…how do you resemble exactly what you looked like in your previous life? And how does it explain that you weren't just reborn…instead it looks like you just appeared here at that exact age?"

She shrugged lightly as she stood inside of the driver door. "Good night Quincy and try not to keep yourself up at night with those questions. Wouldn't want you to get paranoid or anything."

A frustrated sigh left his lips as she eventually got inside of her vehicle, started the engine and pulled out of her parking space; disappearing into the settling darkness around him. Well this was a sure sign he wasn't going to be getting much sleep tonight. Again.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for all the helpful reviews and comments guys! I just noticed how common a lot of the extra characters' names are so I hope they don't seem awkward with the main ones. **

"_-We are born to kill the enemy and win. There is no such thing as an acceptable loss!" _

This was stupid…

Why the hell did he already allow her to have this much control?

"No such thing as an acceptable loss…" he whispered. He could still hear her voice repeating that line over and over again in his head. Leaning back in the dark-leather chair that rested next to his bookcase, he closed his eyes and set his glasses aside. "You didn't accept that loss, so…you decided to make it up in the next life. Yeah, because _that_ makes sense." So…what was he supposed to do now? The easiest answer would be to just forget about her past and move on with life now, but something about that option…it just turned him off. He had to know or else she would drive him insane over it, which she already had a good start on doing so.

**

* * *

**

He was going to find out the truth today.

No matter what he was going to have to do to get it.

There really wasn't any time when she was free to be questioned other than early in the morning when she dropped the files off in his office. He supposed he could ask her then; it was really the only time when they were isolated enough to where he could pose the question. Okay so…that was the plan. Just wait for her to come by and drop off the files and then trap her there. Well as long as he didn't screw up- aw fuck it, he was going to mess up one way or another and then she was going to be able to turn the situation around on him instead.

Well, here goes nothing.

Slipping off his jacket, he slung it over the back of his chair and collapsed back against the soft leather. If it worked, then at least that would get one thing out of the way and all he would have to worry about is just dealing with her. Which, she was running in on day three now? He wasn't entirely sure if he could deal with her any longer though…well at least not with her recent antics. She seemed to almost enjoy just making things awkward for him.

"Good Morning, Doctor Quincy."

He looked up to see her standing in the doorway. Why had he not noticed her earlier? And how long had she been standing there?

"You know, looking's free but if you begin to look too hard, I might just have to start charging you." Cirucci commented; watching as he seemed either caught off-guard or disturbed by her remark. "Anyways, I'm here to do my job and that job right now, would be to hand you these files. It sure looks like a busy day on your part too. There's Mrs. Harrison with her hip problem and Mr. Douglas with the high blood pressure; there was a guy who came in earlier with a gunshot wound, you might want to fit him somewhere into your schedule. And I think Mrs. Robinson is going to be having her baby sometime today, I don't think I've ever seen a woman get _that_ big before in my life. She must be having a whole bunch of babies. Anyways, I've wasted enough time talking to you for now, so let's just go on with our-" she stopped as he seemed to appear suddenly in front of her. His hands closed the door behind her so that she was pinned slightly between the two. "Control yourself Quincy, I don't quite remember my file being anywhere in here."

Her playful grin was enough to try and turn the situation around as she made light of her words.

"Cirucci, I just need you to tell me." Ishida spoke. "And please don't just bullshit around the answer."

She sighed and gave a teasing sneer. "You take all the fun out of everything. But, to be honest with you four-eyes, to hell if I knew either. I mean, there are theories and suggestions but do I know if any of them are true? No. Maybe what you said earlier is right or maybe it's wrong. Is anyone here going to know? No. Is anyone here going to be any wiser knowing the right answer? But with the way I look at it, who knows and who cares. Do I really give a shit about it? No. What's the point in nursing a hurt pride when you never really had any grasp on it anyways. Besides, maybe I'd prefer being a human over being a Shinigami. Yeah maybe I don't have any powers but it seems like just being in this body is all the power I need. After all, you would be surprised how many men come tumbling down at the sight of tight skirts and low tops."

He felt her fingers tug lightly at his tie as she moved her body forward to press against his own; those purple eyes locked onto his own as a teasing grin curved her bright lips. It felt like a minor trip of panic set itself off as he quickly pushed himself away from the woman. "Would you stop doing that?"

"Doing what?" she questioned; grinning still.

"You know _exactly_ what."

She shook her head and bounced her purple locks. "You know, if you don't relax sooner or later, you'll find yourself admitted into this hospital. No wait, maybe that is a good idea. At least then I could get a look at your folder, maybe go look through your past records, your phone number, where you live…"

"Okay, you are being incredibly creepy right now." Ishida muttered.

A soft chuckle escaped her as she walked over to clear the space between them. Her hands pressed the new files into his chest as she now pinned him between her body and his desk. "I don't know, I figured most guys would be happy if they found me waiting for them in their house…but I guess that just varies from man to man."

"There's a difference. I would know that you were trying to kill me if you were waiting in my house." he replied.

"Well see, now you have a point." she remarked as she stepped back. "Well I have to return to my desk now and deal with even more paper cuts and phone calls."

He watched as she turned to go and let out a small sigh of relief before he watched as she pulled the door open and paused in the doorway.

"Also, just for a heads up next time, try not to act so coy." she spoke over her shoulder before she pulled the door closed behind her.

Setting aside the new files, he ran a hand through his dark hair and let out yet another sigh. She was beginning to make a place for herself deep underneath his skin. He looked up at a knock on his office door and made quick to straighten himself up a bit before he called for them to enter.

"What was up with that?" Albert questioned as he pushed the door aside.

"Nothing Albert, we just had a little…disagreement." Ishida answered.

"Then I guess she won because she left this place smiling and you're …not looking too happy."

"Albert, is there a reason you're talking right now?' he questioned.

"Oh yeah, that gunshot patient we got in earlier, we need you to look at him." the male nurse replied. "It was a through-and-through, so there's no bullet to retrieve but we can't seem to get the bleeding under control. He may need to be scheduled for an emergency surgery; we think the bullet might've struck an organ or two, but the scans aren't showing up anything, which could be because of the internal bleeding."

Ishida nodded slightly and set his files aside. "Alright, I'll be there in a minute. What room is he in?"

"He's in the third ICU room for now, or at least until we figure out what's going on."

"I'll look over his file and the nurses' reports, you keep an eye on his stats and make sure he doesn't go into cardiac arrest; that will only make this situation far more difficult." Ishida continued. "When did this patient arrive?"

"Early this morning, probably around…six or so." Albert answered.

"Why wasn't I called in for this?" Ishida asked; watching as the nurse seemed to have difficulty finding the answer, as though the thought of it had never once crossed his mind. "Give me an answer later. We need to work on getting the bleeding under control first."

"Alright, I'm on it." Albert nodded. "Just one more thing, is there like something going on between you and the new secretary-"

"Albert. Just go."

"Alright, alright, I'm going."

**

* * *

**

What started as a little suspicion about internal bleeding ended up with him and a team of four nurses spending three hours trying to fix the damage. The man, Davis Elwood, had a nicked lung and a partly torn diaphragm. The bullet entered in through his back at a downward angle, struck his right lung, passed through his diaphragm before it exited out through his abdomen. There wasn't as much internal bleeding as he had feared and the procedure went by fairly easily, with only a few minor problems now and then.

Stripping off the blood-covered latex gloves, he tossed them aside into the nearest waste bin before he ran his hands under scolding hot water, just in case. One entire surgery and it was only eleven now; this morning seemed like it was going to drag on all day. Cutting off the water, he dried his hands off and removed the rest of his blood-covered scrubs. At least now he could get out of the face mask and stupid hair cap and go straight back into his dress shirt and tie, not that that was really any better. At least they were clean though.

Last he checked, the nurses were still trying to contact the man's family, which was probably one of the more difficult things to do. Sometimes they could get the information easily, other times it wasn't so quick. Either way though, as long as the man was still alive at this point and comfortable in his room, that was all he had to worry about. The rest of it was left up to the nurses, who would alert him of anything that was wrong or out of the ordinary, which hopefully there wouldn't be.

He took the stairs back down to the first floor and started to head back to his office; he still had plenty of patients he would have to check in on; patients who were most likely not the least bit happy about the three hour delay. But if it was something serious, then he would've been alerted of it; if not, then the Head nurse would've easily assisted in the problem and helped to solve it. Although she sometimes tended to be a bit hot headed and ill-patient with some people; she did often times complain that if she couldn't see an injury or the side effect of one, it wasn't worth her time. But she had always been joking when she said that…or at least he had hoped so.

"Doctor." he turned at the call, just in time to see the Head Nurse walking her way towards him.

Her name was Milianne "Millie" Kingston. She was a rather robust-looking woman with broad shoulders, wide hips and arms that would make half the working male nurses jealous. Her red hair had grayed slightly with her passing years, but she outright refused to try and hide the lighter strands; often times preaching that it was a disgrace to be ashamed of her much wiser years. She was well known for her lavender-colored nurse uniform that seemed to bring out a softer side to her rough figure. She worked great with kids but if one of her older patients talked smack and refused her treatments, that rough, merciless side of her would come through; he had seen her literally punch out a family member of one of the patients because the man was on the brink on hysteria and was making the patient panic…or at least that was what she used in her defense. And to be honest, he wasn't going to go against her word. She may have had the graceful form of a woman but she had the strength of two men it seemed.

"What is it?" Ishida questioned.

"We finally managed to get in contact with his family and they're on their way over now." she reported.

"That's good." he nodded. "He won't be awake for several more hours but at least he won't have to wake up to an empty room or one filled with just cops."

"Actually they called a little while ago too." Milianne retorted; moving her hands to her hips "Apparently they'll be visiting later on this week when our patient is feeling a bit healthier. You know, it's rude how they just invite themselves in here like this is some kind of twenty-four hour pub."

He chuckled lightly. "It may seem so but at least they're working on getting yet another criminal off the street. Although a shooting out here in a small town seems a little odd."

"Hey, psychos live everywhere, you just don't know it till they either shoot or gut ya."

"Hey Doc." he rolled his eyes at the voice and looked over to see Albert headed towards them. "We finished moving the patient to room 208, just in case you wanted to tell his family that when or if they arrive."

"Well I hope you didn't drop this one." Milianne remarked.

"That was ONE time." Albert groaned.

Ishida shook his head at the two before he turned to step into his office; stopping once more as a more high-pitched, feminine voice lightly sang to catch his attention.

"Oh Four-Eyes."

He felt himself physically shudder before he forced himself to turn in her given direction; watching as she seemed to stroll her way easily through the corridor. "What is it now?" he questioned regretfully.

"I had to run out for an errand earlier and accidentally hit your car on the way back." Cirucci answered. "It doesn't look too bad…if you didn't favor the passenger side that much."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: The chapter turned out a lot shorter than I originally expected, which is slightly disappointing for me. Luckily, the next chapter should be so much better. Anyways, thanks for the reviews guys! They help a lot!**

"You hit my car? How did you- Cirucci, what the hell?" Ishida questioned.

"It's not my fault I accidentally ran along the side of it." she shrugged. "Besides, I'm sure it's not the only damage that's been done to that car. The leather seats have probably seen its fair share of scratches and those windows have probably been fogged up once or twice."

"And I'm pretty sure your car doesn't have a stick shift, but you'll still use it as an excuse."

Milianne coughed slightly and grabbed Albert by the arm. "Well then, we should probably go and check up on the other patients. Lord knows we've been lounging around long enough to set their tempers flying."

"Nah I checked up on them earlier. They're fine." he assured.

"Albert, we're leaving."

"But I want to see this-" the male nurse didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as the woman tightened her grip on his arm and hauled him off down the hallway.

Ishida sighed and briefly rubbed his temples. "Look at what you did."

"Please, don't blame this all on me." Cirucci grinned. "You're the one who's making a big deal out of it, not me. Besides, I ran out of post-it notes and I needed some more."

"Did you check the storage room for more?" he questioned.

"Oh is that what it's called? I just assumed it was the room everyone crammed all the shit they could into it." she replied sharply. "You should look into getting someone to organize that place; it looks like the aftermath of the love making of an Atomic bomb."

"Well you know what, if I find the free time to do that, I'll be sure to organize it myself." he remarked.

"Aw gee, how sweet." she commented with a hint of sarcasm. "Now I know it will never get done."

He sighed and waved her comment aside. "You know what, I'm busy right now but if you would love to have this conversation later, maybe you can catch me when I'm leaving again."

"Are you making this a date?" she teased.

"Goodbye Cirucci." he muttered as he turned to step into his office.

"I mean, if it's a date, I might actually hold you to that." she called after him.

He closed his door before she could get in another word or even get a reply in answer. Yeah, she was pretty determined to fuck up everything she could. Well as long as she wasn't going around stabbing patients or tripping other staff members, he could easily shoulder whatever she threw at him. Although with how she had been acting recently, her somewhat friendly attitude towards him was frightening. She was probably waiting for a moment to get closer to him and like rip out his heart or something. No wait, actually that would be too quick of a death. She would be looking for something just a bit more slower and tedious to do, like poison. Then again, she was more of someone who wanted bloodshed, so maybe skinning would be more towards her line of work.

"Cirucci, you are going to be the death of me." he sighed as he collapsed back into his chair. His dark eyes stared at the back of the door, almost still able to see where she had been standing. He really needed to get to those other patients, but after a three hour-long surgery, he really didn't feel like getting back up to tend to minor injuries now. But he didn't become a doctor to just sit around in a fancy office all day.

**

* * *

**

Stretching softly, she tossed the last completed folder onto her desk and pushed herself to her feet. After a long day of handling calls, pushing around papers, organizing folders and dealing with all kinds of arrogant assholes called patients-in-the-waiting-room, she was ready to get home and take a long, hot bubble bath. She slipped her jacket on and tossed her bag over one shoulder before she gathered up the remaining files. Since she was still in the building despite the late hour, she might as well go by his office and drop them off. Stepping out from behind her desk, she headed down the long hallway that disappeared into the depths of the hospital; she watched as nurses lounged around behind computers and desks as they kept an eye on different monitors that were set up in the back corner. Most of them were gossiping and detailing different patients they had to deal with for the day and how they were looking forward to a quiet night. She guess she couldn't really blame them seeing with all they had to deal with during different shifts and such.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she took note that his office light was still on. He normally left around this time and always locked his office and turned the lights off. Although he could be pulling a later stay to keep an eye on that gunshot victim. Shrugging it off, she simply placed the files in the plastic bin on his door and turned to go. It's not like she cared what he was doing anyways. His life was his life; she was just here to play around and ruin it for him. Her heels echoed softly as she walked back down the same hallway towards the empty lobby. She watched as more nurses walked in to complete the night shift now; all of them dressed in their assorted uniforms and cute scrubs. It certainly wouldn't hurt to get a few more good-looking male nurses around this place, at least then work would be somewhat enjoyable. She stopped in mid-thought as she noticed that the supply room light was on with the door slightly propped open. Who the hell visited the supply closet this late at night? Unless it was some nurses in there getting their kicks and tricks turned. Actually she really wouldn't be surprised if it was.

She walked on by but decided to peek in, if possible, through the cracked door. After all, if she saw anything, it would certainly help the gossip tomorrow during her lunch break. Pausing slightly, she watched as a figure moved inside and heard the sound of the filing cabinets sliding open. Well, it sounded like it really wasn't two people getting their tricks and giggles inside; that was slightly disappointing to her actually. So who the hell would need the supply room at this hour? Shaking her head, she walked over and carefully eased the door open a bit more. She watched quietly as he carefully sorted through the cabinets before he seemingly found the one he was looking for; shifting through the recently organized supplies inside, he placed in another addition before pushing the drawer closed.

"What are you doing?" she questioned; catching him off-guard as he was in the middle of moving onto whatever his next objective was.

The sight of the purple-haired woman standing in the doorway slightly eased his sharp reaction to the sudden question. Ishida sighed and tried to remember what he had been previously doing before she interrupted him. "Well I told you before if I found the free time I would organize this place, so here I am."

"Yeah…about that, I thought you were just bullshitting around so I would leave you alone." Cirucci replied.

"I could've thought of a better excuse than 'cleaning out the supply closet.'" he shrugged.

"Alright well, if you find any skeletons in there, I'm sure there's a health class that would love for them to be donated." she remarked as she turned to go. "Also, did you find any post-it notes in there?"

"We still have a few packets left but we'll probably have to put in another order form for more." Ishida answered. "Why do you need so many post-it notes anyways?"

"Because I like to fold them together into a chain and strangle small children with them." she spoke.

"I wish I hadn't asked."

"Good night Quincy."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This was by far my most favorite chapter to type, even though this is only chapter five. Although now I really have to kick myself into typing out the rest of the chapters as soon as I piece all my ideas back together. **

"Cirucci, are these all the files from yesterday?"

She looked up from filing her nails and noticed the dark haired doctor now standing beside her desk. "Why? Are those files not good enough for you?"

"I can't finish my reports if I don't have all the files." Ishida sighed. "The ones you left me this morning are only half of the ones I need."

"Well now, that is just interesting. What are you going to do about it?" she questioned; watching as those dark eyes closed for a moment as he rubbed the space between them.

"Cirucci…" he started.

"Okay okay, don't have a heart attack." she sighed teasingly as she set her nail file aside and reached over to the bottom drawer of her desk. Pulling it open, she skimmed her fingertips over the top of the different colored folders inside before she withdrew a mild handful of them. "Alright, these are the ones I received yesterday, but I didn't really finish some of them."

"I can finish them while I write up my reports." he offered.

"Please, then there would really be no reason why this place would need me." Cirucci replied as she thumbed through some of the folders. "Just give me two hours or so and I can have these things back on your desk."

"I can't wait two hours." Ishida remarked. "Now if you will please just hand them over, we can both go on with our day."

"Are you kidding? My day's just beginning." she grinned; enjoying the look of pure annoyance he had as she waved the files at him. "Now you can either be patient and wait for me to finish these and do your report later or we can both just sit here and fight all day."

He sighed and placed his hands down on her desk. "Is there something you want from me?"

"Well now, you might've just opened up a third option here." she teased. "I'll let you have these files and do whatever you want with them, on one condition."

"I'm probably going to regret this, but what?" he asked; already regretting his question as he watched those purple lips of hers grin once more.

"You take me some place nice this afternoon." she answered.

"What? You want- yeah, yeah I'll take you out some place this afternoon, just give me the files."

"Some place nice." she reminded as she tapped the files against his arm before letting him take them from her. She watched as he simply seemed to wave off her remark and walk back off to his office. A soft chuckle left her lips as she went back to her nail file. "Oh Quincy, you are so easy to manipulate."

Ishida sighed as he eventually made his way back to his office with the files in hand. The woman certainly liked her position of control when she had it and she certainly knew how to use it. Then again, he should've known that much. Even without her whip, she was still just as intimidating and manipulative. Pushing aside his office door, he closed it securely behind him and walked over to his desk. Hopefully Milianne could handle most of the patients while he finished off all of these reports. He had to admit, he had fallen behind on some of his paperwork but with the gunshot victim and having to deal with the police and family questions, it had been pushed aside. And Cirucci was partly to blame as well or at least he was going to blame her. Seating himself in front of his computer, he flipped through the folders in hand; taking note of her colorful post-it notes scattered over the different documents to highlight the important facts in each one. He shook his head at her rather blunt notes before he picked one file out and placed the others aside. At least now, if there were no other distractions, he could finally finish off these pieces and get things caught back up to date.

**

* * *

**Finishing up the last report, he tossed the file into the completed stack that had been slightly growing over the passing hours. All he would have to do was save them and print them out to file later on in the day. Although seeing how his afternoon schedule was going to fold out, he would probably have to stay late once again to make sure every report and file was organized and placed in their correct cabinet. But hell, at least he had them all finished and ready for later examination.

Pushing himself away from his desk, he got to his feet and grabbed his jacket on the way out. Well, now he would just have to grind through an hour of dealing with Cirucci, which wasn't sounding the least bit pleasant. Stepping out of his office, he walked down the ever familiar hallway and into the near-empty lobby.

"Are you ready to go?"

She looked up at the question and narrowed her eyes slightly. "And…go where exactly?"

"What do you mean- Cirucci, you hassled me all this morning for those files until I gave in and said I would take you out." Ishida sighed. "And that's what I'm here to do, now grab your stuff and let's go."

"Yeah well…about that, I wasn't really expecting you to take that seriously." Cirucci replied as she tapped the end of her pencil against the stack of clipboards in front of her. "In fact, I was expecting you to just shoulder it off and then I'd have to chase you down, but even then I wouldn't really go through with it."

"So you were just messing around with me then?"

"Pretty much."

He sighed once more before he waved off her comments. "Well get ready anyways, I'm still going to take you out."

"Pft, yeah because that's a good idea." she scoffed.

"Cirucci, why are you making a big deal out of this?" he questioned. "Do you think I really want to go anywhere with you on my own free will?"

"Do you think I want to go anywhere with you on my own free will?" she restated. "Please, you'll probably like drive me off the nearest cliff given the chance."

"Yes because there are cliffs just sitting around this city." Ishida replied with a mild sense of sarcasm. "Now if you will stop being childish, we can both leave and enjoy our lunch break."

"You're actually serious about this?" Cirucci questioned.

"No, I'm just trying to lure you out into the parking lot so I can kill you." he remarked. "Now can we go?"

"Are you even allowed to leave the hospital? I mean, you are the only doctor working…ever."

"Look, there's nothing here that needs my immediate attention right now and if something does come up, I'm still on call and I'll be close by. Not to mention we have a full staff of highly qualified people here to keep things stable till I get back. Now if you will stop fooling around-"

"Okay, okay, just let me finish organizing these papers and sending off these emails and answering these voice mails-" she started before she felt his hand grab a hold of her arm and carefully pull her from her chair. "Or you know, I can just do all of that later too. Shouldn't I have someone take over while I'm gone?"

"I'm sure, someone will come along." he replied.

"You are not very reassuring. How are you a doctor again?"

He simply shook his head and waited for her to grab her jacket before they continued across the lobby and out the front doors. "You know, I guess this means you'll probably be making sure of what you say in the future."

"I don't know, I feel like I should experiment with it some more." Cirucci remarked as they made their way across the parking lot. "Maybe next time I should say that you'll have to kill yourself first or do something embarrassing. Next time, I'm going to say that you'll have to sleep with me."

"Please don't make me throw up in the parking lot." Ishida commented as he managed to fish his car keys out of his pocket.

"Fuck, I forgot my keys inside." she started.

"It doesn't matter, I was planning on driving you anyways." he spoke as he unlocked the vehicle and pulled open the driver side door. "Are you going to get on the other side, or what?"

"Well you're holding my hand and I didn't want to ruin the moment." she shrugged; watching as he quickly let go of her hand as though it had spontaneously combusted into flames. Shaking her head with a grin, she walked around the Crosstour and pulled open the passenger door. "Is this like some secret way of getting back at me for hitting your car the other day? By making me sit on the damaged side?"

"No one said you had to sit in the passenger seat." he commented as he slid inside of the vehicle and closed the door behind him.

"Yeah but if I get in the backseat, then you know, things might happen." she shrugged; pulling the door closed behind her.

"Because I needed to know that."

"You never know."

He sighed and slipped the keys into the ignition; listening to the sound of the engine roaring to life. "Alright, well do you have any place in mind?"

"Not really but you know what, I'm going to just let you decide everything. I want to see where you go with this whole thing." she replied.

"Well then, that's great. I know this nice, sit-down café we can visit." he responded.

"Fuck."

**

* * *

**"Do you have to act like you're going to some kind of concentration camp?"

"Yes."

Ishida sighed as he closed the vehicle door behind him and walked around to assist her. "I don't see why you're making a big deal out of this."

She rolled her eyes at him as he pulled her door open before she slipped out. "Don't take it as a personal thing."

"Oh I'm trying not to." he remarked lightly as he pushed the door closed. "Just try and behave yourself."

"I'm not an animal." she retorted; smoothing out the small wrinkles in her skirt. "Well at least not anymore, not unless you want me to be."

He shook his head and grabbed her hand once more. "Let's just go and get this hour over with."

She chuckled lightly and followed after him as they headed towards the small café. Nice was certainly an understatement for it. The one-story building had an old-time, Victorian-like feel to it with an open sitting area surrounded by white columns wrapped in bright green vines that flourished into an assorted variety of flowers and colors. The building itself seemed to be mostly composed of floor-to-ceiling sized windows that took advantage of the natural sunlight that easily bled inside. Tables were scattered all over the sitting area with most of them being accessorized with one or two chairs and a silk-like, white tablecloth. Her heels still clicking lightly against the polished floor as he carefully lead her through the maze of tables. He eventually found a table that was just slightly separated from the other groups of people and still maintaining a nice view of the gardens spread out around the café.

"Well now, you have me impressed." Cirucci commented as he pulled her chair out for her. "Where did you find this place?"

"I was driving around randomly one day and kind of stumbled upon it." Ishida answered; walking around to his own seat. "I've been here a few times for coffee and such."

Her fingertips ran over the soft table cloth to smooth out the wrinkles. "Well…I didn't really bring anything to discuss about over coffee. Nothing aside from work anyways and even that gets boring."

He had tons of questions he wanted to ask her but decided to put them on the back burner for now; this was not the area he wanted to get stuck in if their conversation escalated. "There's plenty of other things aside from work we could talk about."

"You're right. So how's your love life going? Dating anyone?" she questioned; watching as he seemed to flush a crimson red at the questions.

"This wasn't really a topic I had in mind-" he started.

"Well too bad, I brought it up first." she shrugged. "Now come on, answer the questions."

He sighed but gave in to her. "No I'm not dating anyone."

"I find that hard to believe." she replied quickly. "Most chicks would fall for a doctor."

"Maybe a doctor but not his schedule." he reminded.

"Touché."

"What about you then? Are you dating anyone?" Ishida asked.

She shrugged lightly with a slight exhale. "No, not really. I mean, occasionally my housemate and I will fuck around but it's nothing really serious. We just do it to ease the stress or get out of a bad mood or when we just need to solve some problems downstairs."

"That was a bit more information than I bargained for."

"I think he has a girlfriend now though." she continued. "Well actually, I don't really know if she's a 'girlfriend' or not, but lord knows I've seen the two of them naked one too many times."

"We're going to change the subject now." he interrupted.

"I bet there are some girls you have your eye on." Cirucci remarked; watching as he blushed a darker red. "I knew it."

"This was a bad idea." he muttered.

She grinned lightly before she pushed herself to feet. "Well I'm going to go freshen up in the bathroom real quick. Don't ditch out on me while I'm gone."

"I thought about it." he remarked; watching as she walked off towards the building. Well actually he was still thinking about it. It wasn't even ten minutes into the date and she was already pulling apart all his nerves. Then again, this wasn't a date. He was just taking her out. That was all. And no one could convince him otherwise.

"Ishida?"

He looked up at the question and was slightly surprised by the figure it came from. "Ichigo?"

"Aw hell man, what's it been? A year? Maybe more?" Ichigo grinned as he walked over and took the seat across from him. "How ya been?"

"It could be worse I guess." Ishida chuckled.

"I hear ya man. I see you're still working at the hospital."

"Yeah, it's been pretty busy trying to manage all of it at once." he sighed. "Any idea if your father's going to be returning any time soon? Or at all?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Ichigo shrugged. "That man says he's going on a vacation and next thing you know, two years have passed. But he's probably out on his missionary work or whatever it is that he does." he ran a quick hand through his hair and ruffled the back of it. "So what are you doing here? I didn't figure you would be the kind of sit around in a place like this."

"I got roped into this kind of coffee break with one of my co-workers." Ishida answered; only slightly lying about the ordeal. "What about you?"

"I'm on a date with Rukia. Don't tell Byakuya though." Ichigo replied. "We figured every week or so, we could switch up on our date places and this week was my pick."

"Well you picked a nice place."

"Yeah, it looks better than that pub I chose last time. Worst place for a date. Ever."

Ishida chuckled lightly. "I could imagine that didn't go over too well-" he started; stopping slightly when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

"Well, well doctor, you didn't tell me we were going to be having a guest join us." Cirucci grinned.

"And…you must be the co-worker he was talking about." Ichigo spoke.

"You could say something like that." she winked; pressing her hip slightly into Ishida's shoulder as she spoke. "But where are my manners, I'm Cirucci." she smiled; holding her hand out to him.

"Oh, uh, Ichigo." he introduced; getting to his feet to take her hand. "I guess I should leave you two to your little date here. It's been a pleasure meeting you, Miss. Cirucci."

"Same." she nodded; watching as the man walked off and headed inside. "Who was that freak?"

"And just, what was that all about?" Ishida questioned.

"What was what all about?"

"All of it." he replied. "You were talking in some kind of seductive tone and winking."

"You should be glad I didn't come out here and sit in your lap, which is what I was originally going to do." she remarked. "Which is what I could still do."

"You know, this whole thing is a complete mess." he muttered.

She grinned lightly before she invited herself to the empty space between his body and table edge; her legs dangling over one edge of his chair as she lightly hooked her arms around his neck. "Now then, what were we talking about before I had to excuse myself?"

****

**

* * *

**

"Remind me to never take you out in public again."

"Oh come on, you know most guys would like to be seen in public with a beautiful woman." Cirucci called; following him as the two left the café. It was a nice place even though they really just enjoyed a cup of coffee rather than lunch. The conversations were mild and they managed to keep them decent without getting into too much of a heated discussion. "And most guys would also react differently if said woman was at least attempting to look interested."

"Yeah but 'most guys' don't know about the homicidal maniac underneath." Ishida replied as he pulled the car keys out of his jacket once more. "The sadistic homicidal maniac might I add."

She watched as he unlocked the passenger door and pulled it open for her. "Hmm I kind of think that describes my housemate more, but I guess you could say it for me too." placing one hand on the open door, she playfully squeezed herself between it and his body; watching as he didn't seem the least bit amused by the motion. "Don't act like you didn't notice the other guys staring either."

"I'm just going to forget that this whole thing happened." he replied; closing the door after she had settled herself inside. Sighing, he walked back around to the other side of the vehicle and unlocked the driver's side.

"In case you didn't notice, they were looking over in envy." she continued; watching as he slipped into the vehicle and pulled the door closed. "I don't blame them though, I am rocking this outfit today."

"Can we drop this conversation?" he sighed as he started up the vehicle; listening to the sound of the engine roaring to life. "I would really appreciate it."

"Alright, alright, that's fine with me." she replied. "So do we tell the office that we went out for coffee or just went out to fuck around for an hour?"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Yeah, didn't realize how long I had gone without updating this or even typing to it. But, hopefully since I finished my other large story and so far only have very few other projects going on, not to mention an easy college semester this month, I really hope to put this story at the top of my list now. Just gotta figure out where I'm going in it. I have a lot planned but the ideas aren't till later and I really don't want to rush this while I have it lol. **

Watching as he walked ahead of her, Cirucci shook her head and followed behind as the two entered back into the hospital. It was refreshing to leave the white prison cell every now and then but now there were about twice as many forms on her desk than from before. It was like they reproduced while she was gone. Sighing, she walked back over to her desk and tossed her jacket over the back of her chair. Well at least now she had something to do aside from file her nails and eavesdrop on people in the lobby- actually that last one was still fun to do. Stretching, she took back her chair and flipped through the different forms that would need to be placed into the computer. Mostly just people's medical information, addresses and emergency numbers. All the stuff she hated to computerize.

"Well it's about time you got back."

She looked up at the voice and watched as Milianne appeared with even more folders in hand. "Yeah, well traffic was a little backed up. Something you need?"

"I was going to ask if you could put these away for me, but I see you're a little backed up as well." the nurse replied. "I thought Albert could cover your job, but as it turns out that man couldn't tell a pencil from a telephone."

"Well now, this job's more difficult than it looks." Cirucci chuckled. "I just make it look easy."

"Where'd you go anyways?" Milianne questioned; watching as the purple-haired secretary shuffled through the mix of forms on her desk.

"Oh, you know, what's-his-face took me out for coffee." she shrugged as she finally managed to set each form at least facing in the right direction.

"Really now?" Milianne remarked; slightly arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we went to some cute, little sit-down café and talked about all kinds of things." Cirucci continued. "And then we confessed our ever dying love for each other and had wild, crazy sex in the back of his car."

"Wait- what?"

"I was just checking to see if you were still listening."

* * *

Okay so their coffee break lasted a bit longer than he imagined but he was still on schedule for the rest of the day. Pushing aside his office door, Ishida grabbed the files hanging just outside and flipped through them as he walked over to his desk. So the only thing he needed to look forward to was a minor surgery that was scheduled in about two hours. Until then, it was just basically some paperwork and checking in on the other patients.

"Hey, well it's about time you got back. It's not like we don't have patients dying here or anything."

He could feel some kind of nerve twisting itself at the voice. "Don't be so dramatic Albert, besides you know I always have my phone on me."

"Chill man, believe me, I do not blame you for wanting to go out on a date with a hot chick like her." Albert assured. "So, are you two like seeing each other now? Or dating?"

"It wasn't a date." Ishida denied.

"Really? Well then what was it?" Albert questioned; watching as the dark-haired doctor seemed to suddenly become flustered at the question.

"…Well it wasn't a date." he replied. "It was…it was just a coffee break. End of story."

"How did you manage to keep your hands to yourself again?"

"Albert, you fall for any woman with a heartbeat."

"Well I'm not a picky man."

Ishida shook his head and tried to go back to the files in hand. "Did anything happen while I was gone?"

"No, not really. I mean, that gunshot victim's family dropped by earlier; Mrs. Wilson came back for her hip check up- nothing wrong there; we had a couple come in with some minor burn injuries and then Milianne caught them having sex in one of the hospital rooms after the guy was admitted. But all in all, it was a pretty boring hour. Actually I got one of the Maternity nurse's phone number-"

"You can stop there."

* * *

"Are you going to spend every night in this closet?"

Ishida looked up at the question and chuckled lightly at the purple-haired woman in the doorway. "Well I only managed to sort through about a fourth of the crap in here yesterday, so I guess I'll be spending as many nights in here as I have to till it's clean. After all, that's what you wanted, right?"

"Yeah but since when did you give half a rat's ass about what I wanted?" Cirucci chuckled.

"When you started holding important documents that I need hostage and threatening me with them." he answered.

"Smart boy." she grinned; leaning against the doorframe, she watched him flip through several loose folders of paper before he tossed them aside into the trash. "Well I guess this is the part where I mention that I had 'fun' today and where I should probably thank you for the nice coffee break."

"If you look beyond the awkward conversations, it was a rather pleasant afternoon." Ishida started. "And the unnecessary hand placements afterwards."

"So you did notice my hand on your leg on the ride back." she grinned. "It's a weird habit I guess."

"I'm sure it is."

"You know, you never did tell me about the girl you had your eye on." she started.

He shook his head and grabbed several of the replacement folders behind him; walking over to the filing cabinet in the corner, he pulled open the middle drawer and carefully fitting the folders inside. "For the last time, there isn't one. And even if there was, why would I tell you? Why would you even want to know?" he rearranged several of the folders inside to fit in alphabetical order before he turned back around. Freezing as her hands found a place against the cabinet, he found himself pinned between the furniture piece and her body as she left no space to separate them.

"I don't know, maybe I'd like to check out the competition every now and then. I'd like to see what I'm going up against." she purred; enjoying the look of almost fear in his eyes. "You never know, I might just be a bit territorial and aggressive towards other females."

"Okay, you are really freaking me out right now." Ishida stammered slightly.

"Good." she grinned as she pushed herself away from him. "I want you to keep that in mind then."

He watched as she kept those eyes on him the entire time till she slowly turned away. "Why should I keep that in mind?"

"Who knows, you may need to remember it in the future." she shrugged softly before she disappeared out into the hallway.

"Remember what exactly?" he questioned.

God, why did he let her crawl underneath his skin like that? It was absolutely pathetic how he fell into each and every one of her mind games. Shaking his head, he decided to just leave everything where it was and finish it up tomorrow; he had to meet with the police early in the morning anyways, so he might as well head home now while he still had the chance. Shutting off the supply room light, he walked back down the hallway to his office and grabbed the files from the front of the door. So far so good with having everything under control for now. The police were visiting in the morning to question about the shooting victim, whose files were on his desk right now. He guessed they would question the family and the victim himself if he was conscious by tomorrow. He really didn't want to think on it right now though; the law enforcement and questions were the least of his concerns at the moment.

Grabbing his jacket, he headed back out and locked the door behind him. At least he still had a few hours to kill before he had to come back and deal with all the medical drama. Until then, he guessed he could try and just forget about what Cirucci had said a few minutes ago. He didn't know why she had to constantly pull mind tricks on him or do some kind of weird act to fluster him. Hell, he didn't even know why she insisted on being somewhere close to him almost at all times. He guessed she really was just keeping up with her oath of making his life a living hell…

Walking out into the near empty parking lot, he pulled his car keys from his jacket and unlocked the Crosstour once more. All he wanted was a little quiet and relaxation, was that too much to ask?

"Ooh Quincy..."

The sultry tone in her voice caused him to drop his keys in surprise before he turned to confront her this time. "What? You forgot to threaten me with something else?"

"Not this time, but you may need to ask that question again tomorrow." she grinned; standing just a few feet behind him.

"Alright well then…what do you want? I thought you left already."

"Yeah I did then I realized I forgot something at my desk and then I got caught up talking to some of the night nurses." she replied. "Everyone is so up in arms about that little date we went on."

"It wasn't a date."

"You're telling me. I've been to better places on a first date." she remarked; watching as it only seemed to fluster him more. "Hell, even my housemate takes me out occasionally, although most of the time we either don't make it to the place or we don't stay long…for obvious reasons of course."

"Is there a reason you're telling me this? Can't I just go home now without you bothering me?" Ishida groaned as he picked his keys up from the pavement.

She grinned slightly as she pulled her jacket closer around her and continued on her way towards her own vehicle. "Just remember Quincy, when I said I would make your life a living hell, I meant every word of it. And, unfortunately for you, I'm a woman of my word."

He watched as she eventually headed off to find her own vehicle while he turned his attention back to unlock his own. _No, Cirucci, the unfortunate part is that you're here now and I can't explain it…_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I thought about pushing this event back but then I realized that I really had no reason to, plus I thought it would help add a bit more tension to the story.**

"Just ask her out already."

It was only seven in the morning and the day was just barely starting. That had to have been a new record for him.

"By asking her out, that would verify that I actually like her, which is apparently a common misconception around here." Ishida replied as he unlocked the door to his office before he pushed it open. "We are really not that close and I would prefer if we never were."

"But you two are already acting like you're in for the dates." Albert continued.

"What is that even supposed to mean? You know what, I probably don't even want to know. " Ishida spoke as he walked over to his desk and tossed his jacket over the back of his chair. "I've got a lot of patients I have to look over today, not to mention dealing with the police as well, so we'll just have to pick up on this conversation another time."

"Alright, but I'm holding you to that."

"I was afraid you were going to say that."

"So why haven't you asked her out yet?"

"Albert, first off, that's really none of your business; second, this is really not an appropriate conversation to be have during working hours. If you wish to continue this outside of work, then so be it but you will be having that discussion by yourself. Now, if you'll excuse me, like I said before, I have a lot of work to do today and I'm already behind enough as it is."

"Alright, alright, chill out." Albert shrugged. "I get your point but one day, I'm going to figure this out."

"I bet you will." Ishida replied as he watched the blonde-haired nurse eventually make his way out of the office. He let out a half relieved, half impatient sigh as he tried to focus back on his work. Why the hospital hired someone like Albert was a mystery to him. All he knew about the nurse was that he was some kind of exchange student from out of country who was continuing his schooling here and then decided to work here as well. That was about all he cared to know. The nurse would ramble on about countless dates and women he had seen from other countries if one were to sit down and actually listen to him. But he never really gave him that chance and he never will.

Hell, he'd much rather sit down and talk to Cirucci instead.

Okay, wait…that was a bit radical to even think about. The woman was almost just as bad whenever she rambled off about her housemate, whoever the hell he was.

"Actually I just remembered something-"

"What else could you possibly have to say?" Ishida questioned, only just a bit more irritated with the man.

"I almost forgot to tell you that there's this absolute babe waiting for you in the lobby." Albert replied.

"For the last time, I am not going to see Cirucci-"

"No, no there's another one that just came in and requested for you."

He sighed and rubbed at one temple as he tried to figure out if this was just another one of the nurse's schemes or if he was serious. "I'm a little busy right now, tell them to come back later."

"She is a complete babe. What part of that do you NOT understand?" he replied.

"The part where you actually give me a liable reason as to why I should go outside and meet with this woman." Ishida remarked as he tried to organize his files and put them somewhere out of his way. "Did she at least give you a name?"

"Yeah uh…something like Kurotsuchi? Maybe? No maybe that wasn't it…"

"I'll go meet with her."

"Oh, now suddenly you feel the need to go out and meet her." Albert teased. "All I had to do was say her name and suddenly you're interested. Do you know her from somewhere?"

"Albert, shut up." he replied as he pushed himself away from his desk and started out of his office; completely ignoring the male nurse on his way out. There was no reason for her to be here…and of all place to be, why here? Regardless, it was a hospital, but he didn't really want to see her admitted as a patient. It was only questions, questions, questions, and no answers to be found yet. Albert had to have gotten the name wrong, there was no reason…

Heading down the main hallway, he stepped out into the lobby and almost instantly picked out the woman. She was dressed in a black minidress and flats, which almost completely mirrored her usual uniform- just without the obvious attributes that would have drawn attention to her. Not to say that she wasn't already drawing enough attention to herself dressed the way she was and flaunting her well-gifted characteristics. Her long, black braid still curved down along her spine and stroked the lower curve of her back as the familiar red bead kept the hair style tightly together.

"Nemu…"

She turned at his voice and nodded back in recognition. "Ishida."

"What uh…what are you doing here?" he questioned as he moved to cut the space between them. There were only two other figures in the lobby so he guessed it wouldn't hurt to speak with her out in the open.

"Division Twelve has been working on some observations outside of Soul Society." she started. "We were working in the area nearby and I thought I could drop in to see how you've been."

While he was curious as to what they were exactly observing, he knew she wouldn't tell him and part of him knew better than to ask- he probably didn't want to know the answer to it anyways. "Well, it's been busy around here but things are handling out fine for the time being. How exactly did you know…where to find me?"

"We keep a file of you on record and keep it updated whenever we get the chance or whenever an event occurs." she answered.

"Oh…okay…well then…"

"Look at that, I'm not the only one w ho keeps creepy files on people." Cirucci remarked from her desk nearby as she shuffled through countless reports before she managed to find the one she needed.

He had completely forgotten she was here- or maybe he had just tried to repress the memory of her being here instead. Either way, he attempted to at least ignore her for now. "Yes well, I suppose that would make sense… Anyways, how have you been?"

"I've been busy leading a new team and constructing new experiments and observations inside and outside of Seireitei. We're still continuing our research in Hueco Mundo and trying to gather any new pieces of information on Hollows that we can."

"That place is a dump." Cirucci remarked as she was forced to toss aside her files in order to answer the now slightly hidden phone.

"Well at least it's keeping you busy and you're gaining some kind of knowledge out of it." he nodded. "That would certainly bring up more observations in itself."

"That is what we are hoping for." she nodded. "We hope to make some kind of headway in gaining a better understanding of them."

"They hate you."

"I'm sure that kind of information would certainly help Soul Society and possibly help to prevent anything like the Espadas from happening again." he spoke; hoping to overshadow whatever the purple-haired woman had said first.

"We were awesome. Not all of us, but some of us."

She nodded. "Yes, but until then, we're happy with any information we can find." she glanced back behind her for a moment before she returned to him. "If you'll excuse me now, I must return back to the observation team."

"Yeah… yeah, I should probably get back to my patients now before they die." he replied.

"It was good seeing you again, Ishida." she started as her hands took a hold of his for a moment.

He chuckled lightly and returned the gesture with a light squeeze. "And you as well, Nemu." and just like that, they let go and she was gone again; the hospital doors closing tightly behind her as she disappeared quickly from sight. He probably wouldn't see her again for another few months, maybe a few years, maybe never…he wasn't entirely sure if that impacted him at all.

"That was a good-looking woman, she yours?"

He jumped slightly at the question before he looked over to where the purple-haired woman stood next to him now; her phone and files obviously abandoned. "What? No, of course not."

"You sure? I swear I've seen her before." Cirucci mused. "I'll ask my housemate about her- he knows a lot of women, probably because he's slept with them."

"I highly doubt he'll actually know her but you go right on ahead." he replied.

She took note that he didn't head right back to his office like he normally did, in fact it seemed like he wasn't really making a motion to move at all. "Where do you know her from?"

"Uh, you know, it's not really important." he answered abruptly as he turned to head back to his office all of a sudden. "She's just an old friend."

"You sure about that?" she questioned, more to herself than anyone else. There was more to this than he was letting on. There was no denying the kind of bland tone in their conversation but that last second of it, that moment where they were holding hands… something was different. She could tell there was something more to them or rather, between them. But what was it? And why the hell did she care? It wasn't like she was jealous or anything. If he wanted to date some big-breasted broad, then all the more power to him. She would be surprised if a nerd like him could get a woman like that.

"Jealous?"

She turned at the question and spotted Milianne near her desk with more files to put away. "Not in this world. The only thing I would be jealous about is her shoes and I would want to know where she got them." shaking her head, she pushed the matter aside and walked back over to her desk.

"You sound a little bit jealous."

"Well I'm not…Her shoes aren't that cute anyways."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I found it kind of odd that I was complaining how I couldn't get any fresh ideas for a new chapter and yet... then I wrote this one in under an hour somehow. I don't know how that works but I'm not going to complain. **

It was quiet.

Something didn't seem right but then again when it was completely quiet in a hospital… that wasn't always a good sign. Although he did enjoy the silence in the matter, it helped to keep his focus when he was working. As unsettling as it was, as far as he had checked, nothing was wrong with the patients or with the staff.

"Damn, it feels like a cemetery in here, just without the obscene amount of flowers, depressing atmosphere and the overbalance of people dressed in black- oh wait, is that why the dress code prohibits wearing black scrubs?" Albert questioned from the hallway.

"It's not 'prohibited', it's just frowned upon and it's not viewed lightly by some people." Milianne corrected as she walked past him. "We also kind of advise against it- Albert, are you wearing a black shirt?"

"… it's under my scrubs, you can't see it."

"Well then, only you would ask a stupid question like that and then proceed to break the dress code anyways."

"I hate this place."

Okay, so the hospital wasn't entirely quiet, but it was close enough. As long as he didn't have to listen to Cirucci today- actually that might be why everything was so quiet. Well he wasn't going to complain about it, in fact he was going to take advantage of it for as long as he could. After all, it was a very rare event when the woman wasn't talking obnoxiously loud.

Maybe that was a bit harsh to say.

"Did you two get in a fight?"

It took him a moment before he noted that the question was directed at him; it took him even longer to note the male nurse standing in the doorway to his office- a notice he regretted even looking up at.  
"Did who get in a fight?" Ishida questioned, although he figured he already knew exactly what the man meant by it. "But if you're referring to Cirucci and I, then the answer would be no; we rarely talk long enough to even provoke an argument that's worth my time."

Albert let out a low whistle at the sharp response; taking note of the doctor's look of slight irritation. "…You sure? Because she hasn't said a word all day and I just figured-"

"Well whatever you're thinking, it's probably wrong."

"Alright, alright, I'll take your word for it… No need to get snappy."

"Albert if you're done here, I'd appreciate it if you left. I have a lot of work to do today and if you waste another minute of it-"

"I'm going, I'm going."

He released a long sigh as he heard the door echo a slight click when it was pulled closed behind the nurse. Why did everyone assume that if one thing wasn't fitting in correctly with the normal, average day in the office, that it had to be something that encircled around them? And by 'them' he referred to both Cirucci and him. It wasn't meant to come across as a 'couple' thing. Ugh, the thought of it made him sick.

…

But why would she suddenly take some kind of oath of silence? Did something piss her off that bad? Maybe it had something to do with that outrageous housemate she was always talking about. Whoever the hell he was.

Nah, that couldn't have been it.

She seemed far too strong of a person to let something as idiotic as that bring her down.

So… maybe she was trying to get back at him for something?

But what exactly did he do recently that would cause for this kind of change? Hell half he time he was just trying to avoid her and she didn't seem the least bit offended by it- in fact, it seemed to amuse her. So what was it that was provoking this and… how could he prolong it?

* * *

A long, drawn out sigh left her lips as she mentally wished she could've set the ringing phone ablaze instead of answering it. "Karakura Clinic."

_What's your problem and why should I care?_

"Cirucci, did you know it's snowing outside?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly at the question before she leaned herself back in her chair. "It's almost seventy degrees outside."

"Oh, well then all that coldness must be coming from you instead."

"For the love of- Dordoni, what the hell do you want?" she chuckled as she set the phone to balance against her shoulder to free her hand and continue with reorganizing files. "And this had better not be an emergency because I'm not sending you an ambulance."

"If you're the one in charge of sending out the ambulances, this whole city has a lot more problems than I predicted."

A soft scoff left her lips as she crumpled up some papers and tossed them into the nearest recycling bin; not really watching or caring if the waded up paper actually made it into the bin itself. "Please, the most you like to predict is what time you'll actually roll your ass out of bed; what girl you're going to want to take home for the night; and what team is going to win on Saturday."

"And what I'm going to wear to make myself look dashingly good- oh no wait, I could look that way wearing anything."

"Have I ever confessed that I think that all my 'friends' are just Narcissistic bastards?" Cirucci questioned.

"You're one to talk." Dordoni reminded. "All you do is brag about how you can outsmart us."

"That's not me being narcissistic; that's me telling you the truth." she replied. "Are we still up for this weekend?"

"Hell yeah, what else would we be doing this weekend? Aside from clearly getting wasted and making fools of ourselves in the front lawn… but yeah, as far as I know, we are still on."

"That's good. Lord knows I could use a break from all this." she chuckled as she glanced over to see Milianne suddenly turn the corner next to her. "Listen, I have to go but I'll call you back during my break and we can go over those plans again."

"You better call me back this time."

"I will, I promise." she smiled. "See you this weekend." tossing the phone back on it's receiver, she glanced over as the head nurse finally reached her desk. "Need something to be filed?"

"Actually retrieving files this time." Milianne chuckled. "It's update time for my computer and I need to make sure to check off on some of those forms too." she watched as the woman nodded and turned back to get the files she had been holding on to all morning. "So… not to be nosy or anything but-"

"He's a friend." Cirucci interrupted as she stacked her files together before she handed them over to the nurse.

"Okay, didn't mean to eavesdrop on you there."

She shrugged for a moment and leaned back in her chair once more. "Nah, I mean I do that all the time. It's entertaining and keeps me from killing someone in a horribly violent way."

"You're telling me." Milianne remarked with a light chuckle. "I couldn't tell you how many times I've wanted to severely hurt someone but then I remember how pointless it would be to do so in a hospital setting."

"Can't be that hard. Just throw the latest issue of Playboy to distracted the nurses and the doctor should be easy to get rid of." Cirucci continued. "But I'll just keep my plans to myself- you can make up your own distractions."

"I've been here for years now, you'd be surprised at how precise and organized my ideas are." Milianne commented.

"Hmm perhaps we should collaborate then." she started as she eventually pushed herself out of her chair and onto her feet. "Speaking of distractions, I'm going to take my break early and call him back; we have plans this weekend and I need to make sure they don't fall through this time."

"Good thinking." Milianne nodded as she watched as the purple-haired secretary made her way across the lobby and eventually disappeared somewhere outside. Shaking her head lightly, she clicked her tongue before she headed back down the main corridor; looking up in time to see the dark-haired doctor as he stepped out of his office. "I think there's a patient waiting for you outside."

"That's a bit absurd." Ishida remarked without looking up at her; he was far too preoccupied scanning through his own files at the moment. "Why would someone be- for the last time, there is nothing wrong going on between Cirucci and I; there was never… anything going on between the two of us."

She couldn't say that she was surprised at how quick he managed to solve that; he always had some kind of sixth sense it seemed when it came down to certain topics. "Well I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out one more time." she chuckled.

"Why is she outside anyways?"

"She's calling back a friend." Milianne answered; watching as the doctor seemed less than interested in the conversation. "A male friend, maybe possible boyfriend. They were making plans for the weekend and she didn't want them to fall through; sounded like it could be important."

"Yes well, I'm sure she'll have fun." Ishida replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have more important matters to attend to aside from these 'dating topics' you keep wishing to bring up."

* * *

It was currently three in the morning.

And he was still here.

Carefully looking through a pile of papers that had been harvested from one of the overflowing cabinets, he barely spent a full minute to glance at it before he tossed it all away. If no one had mentioned anything missing before, then no one would miss it now. His hands were already covered in who knows how many paper cuts, so he was really in no mood to save anything that even held the look of being worthless; he barely checked files anymore before he tossed those away as well. Seemed a bit reckless but as far as he was concerned, nothing in here was worth saving or worth missing for that matter.

He couldn't help but to sigh slightly and stop himself in mid cleaning once more.

He was acting like something was bugging him and as far as he knew, nothing was. Nothing had gone wrong that day. All the patients checked out to be fine, the staff was running smoothly and he had made tons of progress throughout the day.

So why the hell did it feel like something was missing?

Despite the overbearing silence throughout the hospital, he knew the night staff was working diligently- or at least giving off the impression that they were whenever he walked by. Milianne and Albert left early, which was probably another reason why the whole place was quiet; Albert wasn't blaring out music on his computer or… hijacking the floor cleaner again.

Cirucci had left early too but that only seemed to contribute to the silence as well.

It wasn't like she had spoken much throughout the day anyways; he barely even notice she was there.

And it wasn't like he cared that she didn't show up.

Hell he got a lot more done without her.

So then why the hell did he always end up thinking back to her? If he didn't really care about whether she showed up or not… then why was he still here? Was he just pretending to work in here in some hope that maybe if he wanted long enough, she'd come back?

No.

No, that was stupid to think. They both had their separate lives and they could choose the live them however so they pleased. If she wanted to go out somewhere on the weekend with some guy, that was her choice. It didn't bother him. At the least, it distracted her away from him, which he would've greatly appreciated, despite what everyone else was thinking.

She was his enemy in the past.

And as far as he was concerned, she would stay that way… even to now.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: It was originally a tad shorter but I decided to bump it up a bit after some idea tossing and trying to figure out what I wanted. Tried to add in a bit of tension and conflict, idk if it worked but it just might be in there somewhere. The next chapter is one of my favorites though, I already have most of it done, just have to piece it together.**

Another day, another fucking migraine for all she knew.

But as long as she was getting paid for it, it wouldn't bother her that badly. Or at least she could force herself through it.

Tossing her bag and jacket onto her desk, she picked up the folders that had been left over by the night nurses. More stuff to file and a few things to pass on. Ruffling up her hair, she grabbed the ones that were marked with red sticky notes and started on down the main corridor. Oh goody, her most favorite part of the day. There was nothing she looked forward to more then making her presence known to the Quincy; it made her day to see the look on his face when he realized that she was still alive. It was a small moment of happiness but at least it was something to look forward to.

"Hey Dr. Worthless, I'm still here-" she started as she pushed aside his door. She stopped as soon as she realized the office was empty. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she glanced at the clock on the wall just to make sure her timing was right. No, it was seven in the morning and this was her usual time to come in and bug him… And he wasn't here. "Oh for the love of- I don't have all day to waste my time."

"What a coincidence, neither do I."

She jumped slightly at the voice and turned quickly to confront it. "Oh… just you."

"Expecting someone different?" Ishida questioned as he moved his way around her.

"No, just someone more exciting."

"Well, you know how much I would hate to disappoint you." he remarked; slipping off his jacket before tossing it over the back of his chair. "But if there's something you have that I need, I'd be more than happy to take it out of your hands. "

She smirked lightly at the comment before she walked over to where he seemed too busy with other things at the moment. "Sure thing, after all, you know how much I like taking things and…" with a flick of the wrist, she tossed the files across his desk and drew his attention back to her. She managed to push herself against him and brought his hands up to cup her waistline. "... putting them in your hands."

He tried not to be thrown off by her sudden seductive act and instead attempted to seem disinterested in the motion. "Decided to talk to me again then?"

"Oh you know how much I love talking to you." her voice was lined with a touch of sweetness and flooded with sarcasm.

"Really? Because I missed hearing your lovely voice yesterday." he replied with the same tone.

She only seemed to grin at his remark and leaned in to place her hands on the desk edge behind him; sealing the space between them till her upper body touched in line with his. "Well I guess I just felt so guilty for robbing you of that experience… I thought I could make up for it. After all, this is about the only amount of time we can be alone together."

"There are other times but… I guess you decided to skip out on those ones."

"Yes well… I suppose it wasn't in best intentions to have left early yesterday but… perhaps we can stay later tonight to make up for lost time."

He had a feeling this conversation was changing into something he did not want to follow through with.

"If you'll excuse me, Cirucci, I have a lot of things that need to be done today." he started as he pulled his hands from her waist and removed himself from her touch. "And it would be in both our best interests to return to our separate placements of work."

She allowed one hand to ruffle her hanging locks before she flashed him one more grin. "Alright… but you know where to find me if you change your mind."

"That doesn't appeal to me in the least bit."

"Thanks for the ego boost, Quincy."

"Now get back to work before I fire you."

He watched as she turned to leave and continued her way out before she passed Albert at the doorway. He didn't even want to talk to the nurse at this time, especially if he had been eavesdropping on their conversation before- which, knowing him, he had been.

"Don't push it Albert."

"Damnit."

* * *

"I don't think I've ever had so much trouble trying to keep a man's attention." Cirucci chuckled.

"He's normally always busy with work." Milianne replied as she walked with the woman back to her desk. "Every now and then he'll work straight through the night without even realizing it; I guess he's just so dedicated he forgets he can actually afford a break every now and then. To be quite honest, you're the only woman so far who's been able to keep his attention for so long."

"And even then, it's been a challenge." she humored as she collapsed back into her chair. "I'm not interested the least bit personally, but it's still nice to get a compliment tossed my way every now and then. A compliment that's not in the form of a pair of ogling eyes from some twelve year old in the lobby."

Milianne shook her head with a chuckle and set one hand on her hip. "Well, maybe you should bring that up with him."

"Pft, please that would make it seem like I'm interested in pursuing more." Cirucci reminded; twirling her fingers around a single lock of hair. "As far as I know, he doesn't even seem interested in women overall… unless you count that broad that was in here the other day."

"Maybe you should try to learn her secrets."

"Yeah, there are two magic words to use: breasts implants."

"Oh goodness Cirucci." Milianne laughed.

"Hey, I'm just pointing out what more than half the male population noticed." she continued with a light shrug. "I mean, I'm happy with mine, although they do get in my way sometimes, but girl must've had a steel back to be carrying those things."

"I cannot believe we're having this conversation."

"What conversation?"

The two looked up at the question as Albert joined in on their discussion.

"Nothing Albert, nothing that someone of your… species needs to listen to." Milianne answered.

"Ah, what a cruel fate."

Cirucci sighed lightly as she watched the two seemingly get dragged into their own conversation; leaving her to think over everything that had been said. She always enjoyed making fun of the Quincy and watching him squirm when she made a strong advance on him; after all, it was all part of her plans to make him absolutely loathe her. But… lately, it was almost like… he didn't really notice them or he wasn't defending himself against them. It was ridiculous to think but he didn't try to reject her so quickly a few minutes ago and he almost seemed genuinely disappointed that she didn't show up last night. And what was up with that ritual anyways? Every time after midnight, they would just hang out in the supply closet and spend an hour or two in there talking. They never really had much to say or really have anything in common but it was still pretty entertaining.

Oh goodness, what was she getting herself into?

Oh wait, that's right, nothing. She was getting herself into nothing because everything between them… well there wasn't anything between them. Just some bad memories and violence… and maybe a few scars.

"So… what were we talking about again?" Milianne questioned as she turned back to her.

"To hell if I knew." Cirucci shrugged as she ruffled her locks for a moment. "I completely got sidetracked by something else."

"Something else or someone else?" she teased.

"You're right. I accidentally saw my housemate naked this morning and I have yet to get that mental picture out of my head."

* * *

"_Going home early?"_

"_Yeah, it's not against the law."_

Despite the time and distance difference between them now, he could still feel the faint memory of her body against his own. It was a memory he was trying to get rid of but at this point… it felt like it was going to be staying a bit longer than he was hoping for. Which was not something he was looking forward to.

Every time he thought about her though, it was like a natural reaction to touch at the scar on his shoulder; the scar tissue itself was thick and unpleasant, and with the slightest touch it sent a numbed sense of pain out. It was the only thing he had that permanently reminded her of who she used it to. In a sense, it was something that prevented him from seeing her in any other way, shape or form. Even if she was human now… she was still the 105th Arrancar to him.

But, not every part of him was willing to keep her marked as an Espada. Or as a monster for that fact.

After all, she was in a new life now and he should work harder to accept that. She wasn't the same one who scarred him- or at least, she wasn't that person completely anymore. She was just… she was just… he didn't know how to put it into words.

She wasn't who she used to be.

And he wasn't sure if he was ready to accept that just yet.

The sound of his phone ringing threw him out of his thoughts for the moment before he reached over and pulled it off the side table beside him. He didn't bother to check the caller ID tag, after all usually the hospital was the only one who called his cell.

"Yeah?"

"Hey Quincy, what are you up to?"

Yeah he really needed to start checking caller ID from now on. "Cirucci, how did you get my number?"

"I work with files and personal information all day so it didn't really seem suspicious when I was flipping through your personal records- not that anyone caught me doing it." she replied. "It's not like I found your address and wrote it down or anything, just your phone number."

"Once again, you have lead me to question my safety in this world." Ishida sighed. "Now what do you want?"

"Well seeing as I called you on the phone, I guess the appropriate answer would be that I just wanted to talk." she replied. "I mean, we missed out on our good conversations twice now, so I figured we could catch up on them."

"I guess I can't argue with that…" he started.

"So, what are you doing?"

As much as he'd rather avoid speaking with her more than he needed to… he supposed some extra bits of conversation wouldn't hurt. "Not much really… I was reading before you so kindly interrupted me."

"Sounds exciting." the playful hint of sarcasm was a nice touch.

"Yeah well, after such an exciting day at the hospital, sometimes I like to relax and not deal with whatever the hell is screaming on TV." he replied. "And I will more than likely regret this, but what about you? Do I even want to know what you're up to?"

"Well since you asked, I'm actually just sitting on the couch petting the cat and waiting for the housemate to get home; he doesn't normally work this late, but knowing him, he's probably out banging chicks." she shrugged.

"Thanks for that insight."

"Tell me about it, I am not taking care of those scratches on his back anymore. Whoever that lady was last time, she's got a pair of nails on her and she's missing one."

"You know what, maybe we should just hang up on each other." he remarked.

"But what am I supposed to do if I can't hear your voice?" she teased. "You got any plans this weekend?"

"I've got a four hour surgery on Friday; there's a few meetings I have to attend to on Saturday with some of the medical board; and Sunday is reserved for any possible emergency surgeries and/or calls that may show up last minute." he answered. "Why? I mean, I'm sure your type of weekend is a two or three day drinking binge."

"Yeah well, I just thought it would be polite to offer you an invitation, not that you would have accepted it anyways… because it may or may not turn into a two day drinking binge." she commented. "But, you know there's going to be partying and just overall socializing, and you know, I could impress a few people if I bring a doctor to the party- you might have to save a few lives there though."

"Who exactly are you hanging out with?"

"… You know what, it's getting kind of late and I do have an early shift in the morning."

"Cirucci-"

"Goodnight Quincy."

The sound of the other line cutting dead ended their conversation quickly and left him with just a few more questions than the night started out with. Sighing, he tossed the phone aside and tried to return to the novel he was reading. Knowing her though, it was probably with just a bunch of people outside of work or whoever the hell she had met while she was here. No one that he should really worry for.

Not that he would worry for her with whoever she was hanging out with.

Not that he worried for her overall.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Another chapter I believe I had too much fun typing, and this was originally the chapter I was working myself to since the beginning. Altered it here and there but it's pretty much how I had imagined it.**

"You look like shit."

"Shut up Quincy."

"Three day drinking binge, I presume."

She muttered to herself slightly and grabbed a hold of the dark tie that hung from his neck. "One more word out of you and I will strangle you out here in public; do not take that threat lightly if you so much as value an inch of your life."

There was no denying the harsh tone in her quiet voice and yet… still part of him wasn't planning on taking her seriously. But, he supposed if he did want to remain on her good side and not push it just yet, he would let it go. "Alright, alright, no need to get violent."

"Yeah well, violence seems like the only way to get close to you." she mused suddenly before she released him from her grasp and continued on towards her desk.

"You have really got to stop playing those games with me."

"I don't know what games you're talking about."

"I hate you."

She smirked lightly as she collapsed back into her chair; watching as he only shook his head at her. "Oh, how disappointing that my love isn't returned."

"Don't count on it ever being returned." he replied.

"You're breaking my heart."

"You don't have one."

"Hey, Doctor-"

"Be quiet Albert, we're trying to have a moment here." Cirucci interrupted; catching the blonde-haired nurse off guard the moment he stepped out into the lobby. "Now then, where were we?"

"No where specifically." Ishida commented before he turned back to the nurse. "What were you saying?"

"There's a patient waiting for you in the ER, I think she might've broken an arm or something." Albert started. "I figured we could get your input on it first."

Perfect way to start off the day. "Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes." he nodded.

"She's kind of hot-"

"Albert, stop rating the patients."

Cirucci waited for the nurse to leave before she turned back to the doctor. "Tell me if she's as hot as the last one was, although that last one was kind of setting some high standards for the rest to follow."

"Yeah but you'll never find one whose standards are able to match your own."

"Aw, is that your way of telling me I'm pretty?" she teased.

"No, just my way of saying you're still as self-centered as you were before."

"Close enough."

He shook his head once more before he went on to follow the winding, intertwining corridors to where the E.R. was located almost on the other side of the building. Normally the E.R. remained empty aside from the occasional scrape or bruise some kid got himself on the playground- there really weren't that many 'emergencies' they ever had to attend to. A broken bone was the most common they had next to stitches. Hell, the emergency room itself was fairly empty with the exception of a few patients here or there; the number of nurses actually outnumbered the patients, which was a rarity sometimes.

"Ishida!"

He looked up at the call of his name and half-expected one of the nurses to need him. Although… none of them referred to him as such. So who the hell was it? It didn't sound like Cirucci, and it's not like she would use that name to yell out in front of people. The sudden attachment of a pair of arms around his neck broke him from his thoughts as the sound of a high-pitched squeal nearly turned him deaf.

"I haven't seen you in so long!"

Okay, who the hell-

Almost immediately, he watched as the figure- actually a woman- stepped back away from him and flashed a wide grin. Her orange hair was pulled back from her face and lightly decorated as the long strands danced down the back of her neck. She pulled together a white blouse with a blue vest and finished it off with a pair of cut off shorts.

"Orihime?" he questioned; for a moment, he wanted to convince himself that it really wasn't, but the sight of her flowered hairpins proved otherwise. "What are you- wait, are you the one with the broken arm?"

"Yeah, I slipped outside the steps of my university." she answered with a light chuckle before she showed the bruised shape of her right forearm. "The swelling started to get really bad, so I thought I would drop by before my next class."

He started to question why she didn't heal herself instead but decided to stop himself at last minute; after all, there was probably a reason… or maybe not. "Yeah, that looks new." he carefully took a hold of her arm to examine it further. "I don't think it's broken, it could just be a sprain but we'll have to take x-rays to be sure."

"I hope not, I don't think I can risk losing my right hand to a cast."

"If anything, you'll have a brace instead but there's still the possibility." he remarked. "We can take the X-ray now, but you might have to wait for the swelling to go down before we can administer anything else." he could get Milianne to take this over in a few; he didn't have the time to deal with an X-ray at the moment.

"It must be exciting to be a doctor." Orihime started. "I mean, you get spend all day helping people, although I kind of thought you'd go into the business side of the hospital- kind of like your father."

And, there was a the kill switch.

"Yeah well… after so many hours of seeing traumatizing wounds and near fatal disembowelments, you start to think that filing papers isn't really going to be all that exciting." Ishida answered as he carefully released her arm from his grasp. "It wasn't really my first choice but can't say that I regret it."

Although now, if they were to talk about hiring specific purple-haired secretaries, then yeah there would be some regrets there.

"But, what about you? I haven't heard from you in, years maybe?"

"Oh, well it's nothing interesting." she replied. "I'm in my second year at the university and I haven't quite decided on a major yet. It's all kind of possible at this point. I thought about being a nurse, but can you imagine you and me working together? I don't think we'd get anything done."

He forced a light chuckle to follow after her more cheery one. "Yeah… yeah we probably wouldn't, but who knows. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a few more nurses who can actually do their jobs."

"Hey, not cool!" Albert shouted from the distant corridor.

"For now though, I'm still a little undecided." she shrugged. "But I guess I'll just hold on to these last few months before they force me to choose something."

"I'm sure you'll find something that suits you well." he assured before he made a quick glance at the nearest clock. "If you'll excuse me now, I have other appointments I have to attend to but I'll be sure to send Milianne your way to get this whole thing figured out."

"Thanks." she grinned before she pulled him into another tight embrace. "It was so good to see you again."

He hesitated slightly before he calmly returned the gesture. "You too."

"We'll have to make plans to get together soon!"

"Yeah… definitely." like he would actually stick to them. He felt her finally pull away and issued one last goodbye before he headed out of the E.R; making sure to speak with Milianne the first chance he got. He sighed lightly and shook his head. First, it was Nemu and now it was Orihime, was there someone else who wanted to jump in out of the blue?

"… Is she stupid like that on purpose or is she for real? I mean, everyone thinks girls act stupid to get attention but that… that was like a Grammy-winning act there."

"Cirucci!"

She only shrugged at his sudden reaction and leaned back against the wall behind her; a water bottle found its way back and forth between her hands. "I'm just saying, there's better ways to get a guy to notice you than acting retarded-"

"You know, most people frown upon using that word now and days."

"And I frown upon girls like her. But alas, they can't all be as beautiful and confident as I am." she replied with a fake, dramatic sigh.

He merely rolled his eyes at her and continued on down the corridor. "Yeah, I guess we could go with that one."

"Well, that was rather modest of me but I thought I would be coming off too strong if I referred to myself as a former Goddess."

* * *

"That was her… wasn't it?"

He looked up from the files in hand and took note of her figure standing in the doorway; her arms were crossed as she half leaned against the doorframe and looked in at him. As much as he would rather avoid the answer… he guessed she finally deserved it. After she had been hounding and chasing him down for it, he really had no other excuse to use.

"Yeah… yeah it was."

She watched as he seemed to had been organizing the folders but for the moment, he had completely stopped; he preoccupied himself with flipping through the year old files instead. Yeah, she could tell he had that look like he would much rather avoid the whole situation, but hell she got this far in breaking down his defense; she wanted to get down to the very root of it. "If it means anything, she did not look like your type in the least bit."

"Maybe, maybe not, I wouldn't really know." he shrugged as he eventually tossed the folders aside; at this point, not really caring much for where they landed.

"What about that other one? The one who showed up a a few days ago?"

"Yeah… maybe her too."

She carefully shifted her balance so a majority of her bodyweight rested against the doorframe. "Now, she looked like your type. That dark-haired, intelligent, nice-looking broad-type, right?" she humored; listening as he seemed to humor her back with a light chuckle. "Definitely a catch any man would like to have… What went wrong with that one? She looked like she was pretty into you."

"Nah… her father and I… we're on bad terms; he would more than likely kill her for even being near me."

"So, what? He doesn't want a nice Quincy doctor dating his daughter? Most fathers would rather enjoy their daughters dating a doctor; it sure as hell is better than them dating a street thug, right? Unless you do that on the weekends or something."

"It's a bit more complicated than you think but the Quincy thing does play quite a part in it. And also if you count the fact that he killed my grandfather and in retaliation to that, I almost killed him." he explained. "My arrow was off by a few inches."

"Well then… yeah, I can see how this whole thing plays out now." she nodded slowly before she pushed herself off of the doorframe and walked over to him. Leaning against the filing cabinets across from him, she slowly worked herself down till she was seated on the floor. "Come on, sit with me, Quincy."

He watched as she smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt before she ushered for him to join her; sighing lightly, he eventually followed her motives and took a seat across from her. "Why do you still keep calling me that? You know what my name is."

"I do but that doesn't mean I have to call you by it." she replied. "And until I feel like respecting you, you're just going to have to deal with my onslaught of nicknames."

"Okay, but don't break into my office and refer to me as 'Dr. Worthless' again; I'd also appreciate it if you didn't refer to me as 'Quincy' in front of the other personnel. They might get suspicious." he chuckled.

"Just do what I do. When someone gets suspicious about me, I kill them."

"… Yeah, I'll try to keep that in mind."

"But, to be on the safe side, let's move away from that topic and go on to another…" she remarked as she carefully brushed aside a lock of her curled bangs. "What happened to that girl?"

He shrugged and let out a long sigh as he slightly slumped back against the cabinets behind him. "I don't know… she was in love with someone else who didn't really return those kind of feelings; then she fell in love with someone after him- an Espada. I don't remember all of it, you'd be surprised how quickly you lose interest in details after things have moved on. Now… now I don't really know what she's doing or what she has been doing for these past few years; we lost touch after the whole Aizen thing and I never really bothered to reconnect."

"Well, if it's any consolation… you deserve someone better than her." she commented. "I mean, you deserve someone who actually possesses common sense."

"Cirucci." he started with a light chuckle. "That's a horrible thing to say."

"I'm just going off on my first impression of her."

"Well it's wrong."

"Why are you defending her?" she questioned.

"Why are you…" he started before he stopped himself for a moment. "Are you jealous?"

"What? Ew, gross no." she denied. "Ugh, there wasn't a thing that woman was wearing that I thought was the least bit cute or even in style for that matter."

"Oh I'm sure there was something."

"… Okay, you caught me, she did have this cute bracelet."

"Yeah, I bet."

She chuckled lightly to herself and titled her head to one side as she studied him for a moment. His dark hair curved along the shape of his face and seemed to emphasize the still youthful appearance that she remembered from years before. The front of his shirt was pulled down slightly to reveal the deep drop of his collarbones- something she found oddly attractive for some reason; his tie was pulled loose as if he had been in the middle of removing it before another matter distracted him. Maybe it was a little odd to see that his usual stiff-neck attire had been broken but she wasn't going to complain about it. "So tell me then, Quincy… what kind of guy are you?"

He looked over at her question and gave a light shrug. "I don't know, what kind of guy do you think I am?"

"You look like… one of those guys who spends his time at home reading novels by a single lamplight while residing in the corner of a room. The kind of guy who stays up to watch late night news channels and feels nothing from them; who watches old medical dramas on Sunday because nothing else is on and makes note of all the in-corrections." she started before she stopped to study him a bit more. "You're the kind of guy who only smokes when he drinks but only drinks occasionally."

"Scarily enough, that sounds about right." he nodded.

"You're a doctor, you're not supposed to smoke."

"Yeah, well when you spend most of your day with screaming people or with guts up to your elbows, sometimes you need something to relieve stress." he shrugged as he brushed aside several black strands of hair. "Not to mention, it's a bad habit I picked up from Ryuken, which is also another reason why I'm trying to quit."

"Who's Ryuken?"

"No one important."

"If you say so." Cirucci replied.

"What about you? What kind of woman are you?" he questioned.

"I don't know, what kind do you think I am?"

He watched as she seemed to grin in anticipation for his answer. Her thick, purple locks were pulled down from their usual style and bounced over her shoulders in thick strands; she looked odd with her hair down, he had been so used to seeing her in her trademark pigtails any other style didn't seem to fit. The white blouse she had worn throughout the day had been slightly pulled loose from where she had it tucked in; her matching skirt still hugged at her thighs but had been pulled up an inch or two since she sat down. She still graced her favorite pair of purple heels, which now were kind of half dangling off her ankles. Despite their absence, he could still see the purple teardrops that had marked her cheeks years before; for a moment, he caught himself regretting the chance to trace them. "I'm not entirely sure what there is to say about you, Cirucci. You… you clearly flaunt your physical appearance and take pride in how you look; you're the type to care about your looks but that doesn't mean you won't hesitate to get down and dirty in a fight. You're the kind of girl who can entertain herself but still enjoys the company of others. You're persistent and you won't stop till you get what you want and because of this, you have an outgoing, flared kind of personality; you're quick to attack or defend should someone push your limit." he paused for a moment as he tried to recollect his thoughts. "You're incredibly intelligent and a master strategist; you back up your wide range of knowledge with your quick reflexes and sharp strikes. Despite how relaxed and calm you are… you never put your guard down. Or maybe I'm just distracted by your former self."

"Maybe you liked my former self better." she offered with a tease.

"No, I'm pretty sure that was the last thing on my list." he replied with a light chuckle.

"Is that all you have to say about what kind of woman I am? Or is that all you're going to tell me."

"For now… that's all I'll tell you."

She chuckled quietly. "That's what I thought." she glanced at her watch for a moment before she started to push herself back up. "It's getting late and I should head home before the cat chews through the furniture again. Are you going to stay here?"

"Probably for another hour or so." he nodded. "I have a few reports I've been putting off for awhile now, so I should get around to actually finishing them before the deadlines."

"Alright, well don't work yourself to death yet." she advised as she pushed herself free from the cabinet behind her. She leaned over to where he was seated and settled her hands into the empty spaces beside his waist. She didn't want to give him the chance to reject the motion and gave way to brush her lips against his own for a brief moment. "Goodnight Quincy."

For once, he didn't try to fight her.

He didn't even pull away.

"Goodnight Cirucci."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Whoo, I got so caught up in other matters and other stories, I almost forgot about this one; I apologize for the long wait. I also apologize for the slight choppiness and overall mixture that this chapter creates. I'm going to be without internet for a day or two and wanted to just go ahead and get a chapter finished and uploaded before I leave- if I have time, I will definitely come back and fix this up. It was meant to be longer, but once more, I just really wanted to post at least something so it doesn't seem like the story went dead- I'll make up for it though, or at least try to.**

"Oh doctor, that reminds me, the patient you sent to me yesterday told me to ask if your shoulder's doing any better." Milianne spoke as she stepped into the doorway of his office; watching as it seemed to catch the doctor off-guard for a moment.

"My shoulder?" Ishida repeated. "Oh… yeah, no it's fine. I'll be sure to tell her that if I run into her again." he watched as the nurse nodded before she continued on to her desk. He shrugged and tried to go back to his reports before he heard another knock at his door. "I'm not going to get anything done today, am I?"

"Not with that apparent 'shoulder' injury."

He glanced up to see Cirucci in the doorway now. "Yeah, it was a few years back though."

"What kind of injury?" she questioned.

"Oh, just something I got as a result of doing some pretty stupid stuff." he shrugged.

"How bad was it?"

"It needed some minor surgery but nothing out of the ordinary." he continued.

"Which shoulder was it?"

"Why are you so desperate to know?" he questioned back; watching as she only seemed to shrug in response. He sighed lightly and decided to take the easy way out of it and just give her the answer. "It was my right one."

She nodded as though she accepted the answer before she walked herself into his office. Her hands touched at his desk as she leaned against it for a moment; her eyes seemed to burn into his own before a quick grin flashed on her lips. "If it was your right shoulder… then why are you touching your left one?"

It was at that moment that he realized his mistake; hell he wasn't even aware he had been touching at the shoulder till she pointed it out. Milianne had asked about when he separated his right one… and he had automatically thought of the scar on his left. "I never said I didn't injury that one as well." he replied as he quickly pulled away from the scar. "In fact… you could say they had similar injuries."

"Oh really?" she asked; one eyebrow slightly arched now. "Elaborate on that one."

"That's really none of your business." he countered.

"So, you let me kiss you but you won't tell me anything about your body, is that it?"

"I would hardly call that a kiss."

"Oh now? Well why don't you show me what you would call a kiss." she challenged.

Yeah, because he would fall for that simple of a trick. A light chuckle left him as he leaned back in his chair to further the space between them. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because that would make you happy."

It was her turn to chuckle now as she pushed herself back and straightened up a bit; her hands rested on her prominent hips. "And what makes you think last night didn't make me happy?"

"I thought it only would have pleased you to know that you pretty much wiped out all the other female challengers in your territory." he started. "I mean, after all, you were jealous-"

"I was not jealous." she interrupted.

"And that wasn't a kiss last night."

She smirked slightly as she caught on and moved her arms to cross themselves over her chest. "Okay, fine, I was a little jealous."

"That's what I thought."

"But since I was a little jealous, that means it was just a little kiss."

"Hmm, that's a bit of a tough trade." he started. "But I guess we'll both just have to take what we can."

"Oh you're telling me." she remarked. "It feels like it's taken forever just to-"

"Hey, what are you two talking so closely about?" Albert questioned as he peeked in through the doorway.

"Just you know, doctor stuff."

"Seems reasonable."

She chuckled and turned her attention back to him. "Never the bright one, is he?"

"Give him an hour and he'll be back in here bugging me." he replied. "He'll probably ask if I have your number."

"Do you want it?"

"Not really."

"Just like every man I know; they only want to get what they can and nothing else." she remarked lightly before a long sigh left her. "Well… I suppose I'll have to get back to work now before you threaten to fire me."

"Damn right."

"I'll see you in a little bit, Quincy."

* * *

"Knock, knock Quincy."

He barely recognized the voice as he balanced between the different folders on his desk and the half typed report on his computer; it seemed like every day there were five or more reports that needed to be done- maybe if he was a bit more organized or had less distractions, these wouldn't be such a pain in the ass to do.

"Quincy."

The plus side to it was that he was almost done though, so that was one good thing. This was the last one and after that was just a few more rounds to make before the afternoon wave would come in. Hopefully it wouldn't be as bad as it had been in the past few days, or hopefully at least there wouldn't be someone he knew. After the last two encounters… he didn't really want to run into anyone else.

"I'm only going to say Quincy one more time."

Glancing between the folder of scribbled notes and the well-written report, he listed out the different symptoms and tried to make sense of the chicken-scratch that lined down the margin of the paper; he made a note to himself to have someone translate whatever the hell Albert had said about the patient- it had better not be some kind of rating system either.

"If you even think of knocking anything off my desk, I can't assure you what my response to that would be." he started; catching her in the corner of his eye.

She was surprised that he managed to catch her all of a sudden, but then again, she had gotten to the corner of his desk before he even caught her. A light smile curved her lips as she decided not to follow through with her antics and instead set her hands on her hips. "I'll let you have it this time but watch yourself the next time you decide to ignore me when I'm calling for you."

"That doesn't really count, I was-" he started.

"And I don't really care what you were doing beforehand because that's just a part of the past now." she interrupted. "Look, lunch break is in ten minutes and I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me."

"Let me think about it- not really." he answered.

"You answered too quickly and put no thought into that."

"I apologize, was I supposed to?"

Giving a shake of her head, she walked around his desk and carefully rested one arm on the back of his chair. "Listen to me Quincy, do you really want to pass up the chance for a second date? I mean, I don't usually go for seconds but for your case… I might give you another one after that."

"Okay first off, that wasn't a date." he replied as he turned away from his report to face her. "Second, I'm not entirely sure I would feel comfortable in a setting that you choose."

"Oh come on, you did it to me so it's only fair that I returned the favor." she reminded as her fingers carefully caught the middle of his tie. "Plus, last time you partly drug me out of here and… if I were to do the same, I wouldn't count on me dragging you to a safe, public location- I'm thinking more of some place secluded and out of sight. And just think, if the place works out, I might keep you there for a little while longer."

He studied that grin of hers and watched as she seemed to lean in just a bit closer at the words. "You really know how to make a point, don't you?"

"My beauty and charm help make it work." she remarked.

"I was leaning more towards the option that you're a psycho but I guess that works too." he commented.

"So… what's it going to be? Are you going to give in or am I going to have to fight you and subdue you into submission?"

"Alright fine, give me those ten minutes and I'll meet you outside."

"I knew you would come around eventually." she grinned as she eventually released him and turned to leave. "If you're not out there in ten though, it's a free-for-all."

He watched as she eventually made her way out and started to pull the door closed behind her. A long sigh released itself from his lips as he leaned back in his chair for a moment. This whole thing… was getting out of control; how the hell did he let it get this bad? Actually… it probably had a lot to do with the sudden visits from both Nemu and Orihime… something about those two really pissed Cirucci off. He was only joking when he said it made her jealous and yet, it seemed like somewhere deep inside, it did. But that was stupid to think… she was far too strong of a person to let something like jealousy bring her down. She was probably just upset at the temporary likelihood that someone else was going to kill him and rob her of the chance to do it. He was going to keep telling himself that until he actually believed it.

How long did he have left? Seven minutes? That was long enough to finish his report.

* * *

He let out a short, almost exhausted sigh as he carefully pushed aside the hospital doors. Those seven minutes seemed to fly and now he had to face the next hour with some hope that he was going to come out of it mentally fine.

"And here I almost thought I was going to have to go back inside." Cirucci remarked as she stood by the curb with her hands in her jacket pocket. Her usual white skirt seemed slightly looser than her other ones had been and actually caught a few soft breezes in the stiff folds of the material; a matching white blouse with a ruffled neck piece was just barely visible from underneath her albino jacket.

"I have to ask, do you always have to wear white?" Ishida questioned.

"Hmmm no, not really." she replied; walking over to lightly link her arms with his- something he didn't seem to keen on doing. "I guess some habits just die hard."

"Tell me about it." he whispered as he followed her out into the parking lot. "So where are we going anyways?"

"It's a secret."

"I never should've agreed to this."

"Oh don't worry, you just get to sit back in the passenger seat and enjoy the ride."

"… Fine, but I'm not putting my hand on your leg."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Got some fresh ideas for the story now after hitting a rough patch. Thanks for the reviews guys, I'm really quite glad to see that people like the overall idea of the story, I was afraid no one would like the absurdity of it. Or that no one would like the couple either. For once, I'm glad to have been proven wrong. **

"It's twelve in the afternoon and you take me to a bar."

"It's not a bar." Cirucci denied as she slammed the car door closed behind her; the look on his face said he was all the more displeased by the restaurant choice. "It's an open-aired lounge."

They hadn't even pulled into the parking lot five minutes ago and he could already tell he wasn't going to like this place; why the hell did he decide to go with her again? Oh yeah, because the choices were some bar area such as this or the basement of some abandoned shack in the middle of nowhere. When faced with two different choices… this place couldn't be as bad as that, right? "Do they serve alcohol here?"

"Well yeah, I mean it's a little early but you could probably flirt with the bartender to spike your coffee." she shrugged; walking around to the other side of the car to grab his arm. She felt like she physically had to force him up along the short flight of stairs the lead into the open, dark-oak doorway; the inside was dimly light as always with a few overhead lights flickering on and off every now and again. Everything about the place seemed to had been carved out of dark wood and fashioned by hand- which was one of the reasons she liked the place; it had a strange, dark appeal to her. "There's a smoking area in the back-"

"That means it's a bar." Ishida interrupted.

"Oh come on, give it a chance will you." she remarked as she lead him on through the wide-spread collection of tables and chairs before she found her usual area; the table had a small cloth on top that only covered the middle square and the two accompanying chairs were slightly knocked aside and sticking away. "Here, look if you don't like the place after thirty minutes, then we can leave and never come back here together again."

He really didn't even want to stay that long here but he figured for her sake… twenty minutes at most. A long sigh left him as he reluctantly nodded. "Alright fine, but if we get killed in the parking lot, I'm blaming you."

"It's a deal." she chuckled as she pulled her chair closer to the table before she gladly took a seat. She watched as he still continued to seem less than pleased about the surroundings but at least attempted to keep his opinions to himself. "Let me guess, you're just so used to going to those big and fancy places that this little 'bar' seems a bit run down to you."

"It's a nice assumption." he replied as he took the seat across from her. "But actually the fact that there only seems to be five people here, including ourselves, it just gives off the feel of a drug ring."

"I know the people who run this place and it wouldn't surprise me if they did host one." she shrugged as she lightly fiddled with the plastic menus stacked on one side of the table. "But then again, I get this feeling that you don't get out much anyways so… really any kind of vulnerability to the public eye makes you uncomfortable."

"I think it might just be the whole situation where I have to be seen with you in public." Ishida added; catching the light hint of a grin on her lips. "That might be the part that makes me uncomfortable."

"Afraid to run into someone else you know out here?" Cirucci questioned teasingly as she leaned back in her chair.

"I'm not too entirely sure if anyone I know would hang out in this kind of… 'setting' but it's been a few years, who knows." he shrugged. "I'll just have to tell them that my psycho secretary drug me out here."

"Oh, your secretary is it?" she questioned with a light chuckle. "Alright, but if we run into anyone I know… I'm telling them that I drug my boyfriend out here to spend the lunch hour with me."

"You're going to raise the stakes that high, huh?" he remarked.

"Well, I'm just looking to see which one gets the better reaction." she commented as she carefully tucked aside a purple lock behind one ear. "And if we don't run into anyone we recognize… well I guess we'll just leave this date as public enemies once more."

He watched the way she brushed aside her lock of hair before fingertips traced down the curve of her jawline; it was a smooth transition of a touch before she moved her hand to rest back in her lap. "Sounds reasonable." he nodded; putting his attention back into the conversation. "Although the thought of you actually recognizing someone else out in public is slightly frightening."

"Hmm… how scary would it be for you?" Cirucci teased. "Just when you thought you could finally handle me being back…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She chuckled lightly and pushed herself out of her chair. "Here, I'm going to go grab the bartender and get us some drinks."

He watched as she carefully maneuvered herself away from their table and through the other vast collections of them; eventually disappearing somewhat behind a thick support column that leaned against the bar. She didn't really just hint that there were others… right? That wasn't what she meant… It couldn't have been. No, no that was just another one of her mind tricks, one of those mental puzzles she kept around to trip him up. It wasn't… it wasn't possible. But if there were others, she would know. It was ridiculous to think about; she was just using that as a topic to mess with him- she knew how uncomfortable he was with just her reappearing once more. She was just using that one weakness he showed to wedge herself underneath his skin. He wasn't going to fall for it…

"Oh my, now that looks like a familiar face."

Damnit, why did that voice have to sound familiar too? And feminine, for that matter.

"What? You don't recognize me after all these years?"

The question forced him to toss away his thoughts as he looked up to see the dark-haired woman walking towards him. She had grown her hair out a little more, so a few locks of it touched the back of her neck now. A black leather jacket almost hid her slender form underneath while the open front revealed the rather, uh, skimpy-looking white tank-top she wore beneath it. But it was that rather broad and brilliant-looking grin that really captured his attention.

"Like you would let me forget who you are." he chuckled as he stood up to greet her.

"Damn straight, I'd just kick myself back into that head of yours." she replied; closing the space between them. She pulled her hands from her jacket pockets and leaned in to pull him into a quick hug. "It's been too long, Ishida, how have you been?"

He returned the gesture and tried not to think too long on what was up with women and hugging; breaking the embrace at the suitable time. "Busy, but we haven't hit the peak of the season yet, so it'll be interesting to see where it goes from here. What about you? I haven't seen you in so long, Tatsuki, I'm not entirely sure if I remember what you do anymore."

"Ah well, I finished my last semester a few months ago and I've been working like a hard-ass down at the dōjō." Tatsuki started as she carefully ruffled her hand through her dark hair. "I've gotten a few promotions here or there and I've heard rumors that… I may be next in line for dōjō Master but I don't have anything to confirm it aside from me eavesdropping on the conversation."

"Wow, already?" he remarked. "Then again, you did win all those boxing championships a year or two ago."

"Ha ha, you still remember those? And here I thought people had forgotten about them." she chuckled. "I've been going through different sports and fighting styles, so it's hard for me to remember back when it was just boxing- I'm still a beast at I though, in case you wanna have a go."

"Uh, no thanks, I think I'll pass that one on." Ishida replied; chuckling as she did a few shadow punches around him. "What are you doing here anyways? I didn't really see you for much of a… bar kind of person, especially this early."

She grinned lightly and put her hands back into her jacket. "I was going to ask you the same thing but actually… I was going to meet up with someone here- someone who's standing just behind you in fact."

"Ayoo, Ishida, what are you doing here?"

He turned back at the voice and could only shake his head in response to the figure. "Chad, what the hell are you meeting up with Tatsuki for?" he remarked with a light chuckle.

"We ran into each other yesterday and set up a time to meet up with one another today." the taller man answered with a light shrug. "You know how it goes."

"Yeah, I mean, it's not like we're here on a date or anything." Tatsuki chuckled; a light hint of nervousness in the response. "But anyways, what are you doing here? I know for a fact, this is not the kind of place you like and that you certainly wouldn't be caught dead here unless it was by force."

"What a coincidence, uh, actually one of my coworkers insisted on bringing me here, I'm not entirely sure why though." Ishida started. "She left a few minutes ago-"

"She?" Tatsuki repeated with a curious arch of her eyebrow. "Hmmm, curious, who is she?"

"No one in particular really-"

"Hey, you said you didn't really have any preference in coffee right? I mean, I just ordered the first thing that came to mind but that never really works out for me."

Shit.

Cirucci glanced up from the two coffee mugs in hand and could only mentally curse at the two extra figures that seemed to occupy the space around their table. Why the hell was it that every time she got up and left for just a few minutes, someone else the Quincy knew just had to show up at the godforsaken time. Not that it was really anything to get worked up over… jeez, she just wanted some time to relax and take the weight off but no, there always had to be someone else there to complicate it. More of his friends that she didn't really know that he had anyway; he always seemed to act like such a loner and yet seemed to know at least one person every time they went out- which, to be honest, was only twice but still.

Fuck it, she was just overreacting and making a big deal out of nothing.

Shaking her head, she walked over to the small group and handed the second coffee to the dark-haired doctor; she had the urge to throw it at him though. "Always quite the popular guy no matter where we go, aren't you?" she remarked.

He caught sight of her gracious grin and felt just a bit of a cold fear in it- she certainly didn't seem to like the extra company.

"Ooh, so this must be the woman you were talking about." Tatsuki smiled.

"Well I hope it wasn't anything inappropriate." Cirucci remarked before she lightly hit the Quincy in the side. "Why don't you introduce us? You are the only one here who knows everyone."

She always liked to put him on the spot but this time… this time he might make her regret that. "You're right, I apologize for the wait on introductions. Cirucci, this is Chad and Tatsuki, they're old friends of mine from high school."

"I remember when Ishida was the new kid in town." Tatsuki chuckled. "We were so different back then, it's scary to see how everyone grew up."

"Just a bit." he nodded. "And Chad, Tatsuki, this is Cirucci…"

"We work together down at the hospital-" Cirucci started as she switched the coffee mug to her other hand and held it out to shake Tatsuki's.

"- my girlfriend."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I'm not going to lie, I have far too much fun typing this story and I'm just glad my attempts at humor in it are appreciated. Also glad to finally get the relationship going onward, which will now opening so many doors within the next few chapters. **

The long silence that followed afterwards was questionable as the other three seemed to freeze in thought at the sudden addition. He didn't really care much for the feedback- but it would be an understatement to say that he achieved the reaction he was looking for.

"I'm your what?"

"Cute, you know we should all get together and double date sometime soon." Tatsuki grinned; quickly recovering herself from a small shocked state. "It'll be fun with just the four of us, or better yet we could see if we could get a hold of Ichigo and Orihime, and drag them out with us."

He would much rather kill himself instead.

"Uh sure, you know what, if you can pull it off, we'll be there." Ishida replied; earning a sharp elbow to the side from the purple-haired woman next to him. "If we can find the time that is."

"Alright well, challenge accepted then." Tatsuki nodded as she set her hands on her hips. "Well, uh, looks like we should be headed on our way- we wouldn't want to interfere with your date. It was good seeing you though and you make sure you keep your schedule open in the near future because I'll be calling about that double date."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." he chuckled; watching as the other two started on their way back out of the bar. "Well that was a lovely run in."

"What did you call me?" Cirucci questioned as she turned to face him now; one hand planted tightly against her hip.

Something about that sharp look in her eye and the mild frown on her lips… it was a pretty good reaction; he had no regrets. "You said you wanted a reaction earlier and I figured it would only be polite if I gave you the best one there was. I thought it was rather suitable but not overly dramatic."

"That's nice and all but repeat what you called me." she pressured.

"I… I called you my girlfriend?" he repeated slowly; almost reluctant to see where she was going to go with the answer.

It took a moment as she seemed to mull it over before that rather questionable smirk showed up once more; curving her purple lips into an almost sinister looking expression of a tease. "Hmm, might want to be careful with that word Quincy… I think I'm starting to take a liking to it."

He watched as she walked back over to her chair and took a seat; her coffee mug shared between her two hands now as that persistent smirk remained. "Well, that's very much like you, isn't it?" he remarked as he took the seat across from her once more. "Always wanting to make a reaction, regardless of who is or isn't present."

The curve of her coffee mug seemed to balance on the edge of her lower lip as she only winked in response and carried on with her drink.

A low sigh left him in answer as he set the ceramic mug on the table top and slowly rotated it between his hands. He thought back on the events that happened just minutes ago and found himself almost chuckling at their reactions.

"What's so funny?" she questioned.

"Just, trying to imagine what everyone's reactions would be if I pulled the same stunt on them." he answered.

She studied him carefully and for a moment, found herself strangely attractive to that soft smile on his lips. A light chuckle left her as well as she set down her coffee mug and pushed it away from the table edge. "You want to go see?" she tempted.

"Are you kidding? Neither of us would be able to show up to work again without getting some kind of stare or comment." he reminded.

"Yeah, but it'll probably be like 'that is one fine-looking couple, I wonder what their sex life is like?'" she remarked; catching another light chuckle from him. "What? It's true, I bet you they would ask that."

"I highly doubt that is the first thing they're going to think."

"You sure? Because that's always the first thing I think of when I see a fine-looking couple." she mused; watching as he only seemed to shake his head at her. "And if I know the couple well enough, it's the first thing I ask."

"Well now, that seems very like you." he spoke. "Always wanting to know something that should really be none of your business."

"But there's no fun in staying inside my own boundary; it's always more entertaining to step outside of that line." she remarked as she took another sip of her lukewarm coffee now. She tilted her head to one side and watched him once more- for some reason, she found him oddly interesting to observe. "So what do you think? Is it worth a go?"

He looked up from the dark pool of liquid in his mug and to those dangerously brilliant eyes across from him; that ever present smirk only seemed to foretell that she was still up to no good. "Is what worth a go?"

"This weird, kind of… well indescribable tension that's here." she started; fingertips tracing the different chips that lined one side of her coffee mug. "You can't deny it."

"It's probably just a-"

"You know, when I say you can't deny something, the first thing you do shouldn't be to try and deny it anyways." she interrupted.

He took note of the small, slight irritation in her voice but only chuckled in response to it. "I don't know, Cirucci… what do you think?"

She didn't like how he turned the conversation around but… there was no sense in wasting the given opportunity, right? Pushing her mug aside, she reached over and gently let her fingertips trace over the small contours in his hand. "...On one condition."

He watched her intently as the touch of her fingers tracing shapes into his arm was slightly relaxing. "What is it?"

"Forgive me for crippling your shoulder."

**

* * *

**

"Hey Millie, have you seen either Ishida or Cirucci? I've been looking for them for like twenty minutes now and haven't found a trace."

The woman looked up from her computer screen and to the confused-looking blonde who stood on the other side of her desk. "Albert, did you ever consider that maybe after a twenty minute search, that they are not in fact in this building anymore?"

"… Well yeah, but I think it would look suspicious if I went out into the parking lot to look for them."

Sometimes she wondered if he just acted stupid or if he really was that stupid. "They probably went out on lunch break at the same time."

"Or together." he added.

"Yeah, there's that too." she mused. "But seriously, why did you waste twenty minutes of your working time to try and find them?"

"I have files and reports I have to send out but I need Ishida to verify them for me." Albert explained as he leaned against her desk now. "Plus you know… there was this really hot nurse working in the E.R. and I thought I could impress her if I-"

"Well now I feel stupid for not automatically guessing that was your original reason to waste twenty minutes in the first place." she interrupted. "Remind me to put in a notice to get rid of all other female nurses when you're on shift."

"Oh come on, no need to be so dramatic."

"No Albert, it's only for your own safety and the safety of our patients if we did so."

He shook his head at her somewhat teasing rant- although at this point, it might've had a more serious note behind it. He started to make another defending remark but stopped at the sound of some kind of echoing laughter down the corridor. "Ah, that sounds like them returning. I'll go hand off these files now."

"And maybe for once, you'll prove your worth around here." Milianne called after him.

"One of these days Milianne, I'm going to rock your world and show you just how useful I can be." he remarked just before he turned to the corner and joined back into the main corridor that ran through the entire first floor of the hospital. It didn't take him long to spot the two he had been searching for- their earlier laughter seemed to have quickly dissolved into another short argument, which was common for them. He personally couldn't figure out how two people could argue so much; he would run out of topics to fight over, that was if he just wasn't so laid back about it all.

"You know, for a doctor, you really have no backbone; I don't see how you even have the stomach to perform surgeries without passing out."

"The only reason you think people pass out is due to an abundance of alcohol consumption- and that's only because you're a professional at it."

Yeah, they had this weird habit where they seemed to attack each other personally. He didn't know why they chose to do so or how their 'relationship' escalated to so much… 'hatred' but he figured it wasn't worth questioning; they were probably going through that hateful stage and moving on to the angry sex part soon.

"Such a gentleman, Quincy." her voice seemed to seep with sarcasm as the words came sharply off her tongue.

"More of a gentleman than you are a lady, Thunderwitch." he reminded; replying with just the same amount of spitefulness.

"It's about time you two got back, I've got some work that needs to be verified and passed off." Albert started as he approached the two; cutting off their argument.

"Oh look, something to do to make yourself useful around here." Ishida remarked.

"And something to make you look like you're actually important." Cirucci countered.

"Yeah uh… you know, I wasn't going to ask but now I have to." Albert spoke as he bounced the files in his hands. "You two argue a lot but you have these weird like… code names for each other; I mean, I've never heard anyone call their 'partner' things like 'Quincy' or anything. Are these like pet names between you two?"

Cirucci could barely keep herself from grinning at the sudden awareness of a new situation before them. "Albert, we've been meaning to tell you but… we are madly in love with each other and just can't keep ourselves from wanting the whole world to know."

That should've been enough to ruffle the Quincy.

The blonde nurse slowly nodded and carefully handed the files over to her. "Okay uh… well then… congratulations."

"We'll try not to let it interfere with our working places." she shrugged. "But uh, be sure to knock on any door that looks suspicious or you have a weird feeling about- it could be us on the other side." it was taking all her strength and energy to not burst out laughing and keep a rather calm face about it. "Now then, if you'll excuse me… I have some work to do."

"… So about those reports…" Albert started.

"I'll be sure to clear them within the hour and pass them off to be filed." Ishida replied as he continued on his way to his office. "Also, when Millie gets done with those surgery documents, can you tell her to pass them my way? I want to get a head start on that surgery tomorrow and make sure we have everything lined up."

"Sure thing." he nodded; watching as the doctor eventually disappeared from sight.

"Uh… what exactly was that all about?" Milianne questioned as she stepped into the corridor; she had barely caught the last half of the conversation and it intrigued her enough to leave her desk for a few minutes to investigate.

"You know, to be honest, I' m not entirely sure…"


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I get the feeling these chapters are getting shorter each time, I must fix this immediantly. Thanks for the reviews and all the support!**

Maybe he should rethink this.

It couldn't have been more than what, Five or six years ago? When she was one of the main obstacles that stood in his way. She was the only one to have had successfully outsmart and outmaneuver him; she was the only one to have tricked him into destroying her arena for her own purpose; he had scars from every battle but… her scars hurt the worst even to this day.

So why did it feel like he just suddenly rushed into this?

She had been pestering and threatening him since day one; she always made sure to let him know of her presence and had pretty much kept to her word and made every day a living hell for him. So, when did that exactly change? Where did things switch around and get twisted? When did he let go of his judgment and give up all logical reasons to stay away from her? This whole situation just didn't seem possible, it all still felt like it was just one bad dream.

He was just going to wake up and this was all going to go away. She wasn't going to be here; the thought of more Arrancars was going to be gone; he was just going to wake up and find that these feelings weren't real. He didn't find her insanely attractive overnight and that she was still considered a former enemy… and nothing else.

Part of it sounded like wishful thinking.

The other half almost felt like a fear.

He wasn't actually… falling for her right?

A long, somewhat exhausting sigh escaped him as he pushed himself out of his chair; abandoning the book he had chosen for the night, whose cover had yet to be opened. He had to go in at five tomorrow and seeing as it was already one in the morning… actually he was beginning to wonder if the four hours in between would really make that much of a difference. It would probably be on the safer side if he did attempt to get some form of rest, at least that way he could bullshit some form of consciousness. A quick shower would probably cool down his train of thoughts and put him into a better state for rest.

He barely made it a few steps from his chair before he heard the ever familiar buzz of his cell phone as it went off. Of course, someone was always on the other line to either make or break his night. As reluctant as he was to answer it, he pulled it from the side table and did so anyways.

"If you tell me someone else got shot, I'm just going to hang up." he started.

"Well now, that's a stiff request but if you want me to, I do have a gun in my closet."

For a moment, he caught himself not once flinching at the voice on the other end; if anything, he was almost glad to hear it at this point. "It's one in the morning, Cirucci, what do you want?"

"I figured you would be up anyways and probably bored out of your mind and… I thought I could help lighten up your night with the sound of my voice." she answered; a playful click in her tone.

"Yeah, I guess we could go with that." he remarked.

"Always playing hard to get, aren't we, Quincy?"

There she went with that nickname of hers. "Why do you keep calling me that still?"

A light chuckle seemed to follow through from the other end. "Why are you complaining? I figured you would get used to it- it is what you are, right? But if you want, I have other 'pet names' for you that I could call out in public. There's always 'Four-Eyes-'"

"That's all I need to hear." he interrupted lightly.

"That's what I thought and besides you know, the word Quincy just rolls off the tongue so smoothly. Plus I figured you would want to hear me yell it once or twice in the near future."

The remark was classical for her but that didn't stop it from catching him off-guard. He tried to pass it off but with the sound of the woman laughing on the other end, it was a little too late for that. "Why do you still continue to torment me?"

"Oh who knows, Quincy, it could be a number of reasons." she seemed to shrug. "Maybe its my way of communicating my feelings with you- not really, if I wanted to get that point across, it should be easy enough for me too."

"That doesn't surprise me and yet still continues to be frightening."

"That's what I'm here for."

He only shook his head as he continued on through his house; making sure to hit every light switch on the way through to cast the entire building into darkness. "Do you think this is really going to work out between us?"

"Why wouldn't it?" she mused.

"Because I hate you and you hate me; I faintly recall an incident a few years ago when you tried to kill me." he reminded.

"And I recall an incident where you failed to do so in return." she replied. "Think of it this way Quincy, who really knows what my motive is in all of this. I'm sure somewhere in the back of your mind, you're thinking that I'm only doing this to get closer to you and at some point, you're going to reveal a weakness; when I find out what that weakness is… I'm going to take advantage of it. You're still stuck in that ever revolving ideal that I'm still out to cause you physical harm and/or kill you. Maybe you're right and maybe that's what I'm trying to achieve through this 'relationship' of ours. Or maybe you're wrong and I'm just trying to find some kind of object from my past to hold onto- something to remind me that those years before weren't just a dream. You see Quincy, women can be tricky little things but I'm just a tad bit different; I'm already three steps ahead of you."

He listened carefully to how her tone seemed to balance between teasing and being serious; masking her motive and only slightly terrifying him in a sense. Flipping on the one light switch in his bedroom, he leaned against the doorframe to recollect his thoughts on the matter. "But only for so long Cirucci; I'll catch up to you."

"Is that a challenge now?" she mused. "Don't tease me Quincy, I'm up for anything."

"Good, because I would really like to get to the bottom of this whole thing." he replied.

"I don't know, I find the whole mystery and unsolved plotline to be so intriguing. Why stop such a good thing?" she remarked with a light chuckle on her tongue. "But you know what, if you're up the for impossible, go for it; I won't stop you."

"Well, I'm apparently 'involved' with you so there can't be much else of a challenge after that." he noted; listening to her quiet chuckle that followed afterwards. Something about it seemed and felt almost… hypnotizing, maybe he should stop paying so much attention to it.

"Careful, I might just take that as a compliment." she remarked. "Do you have early work in the morning?"

"Yeah, actually I do, I was about to get in a quick shower." he started.

"Is that so? Well if you give me ten minutes-"

"You're not invited."

"Way to ruin my night."

**

* * *

**

The morning sky was still dark and the hospital was barely lit on the outside; a few glimpses of light managed to peak through from the inside but the heavy curtains had been pulled together to keep the sun from waking up some of the patients- not that they would have to worry about that for a few hours. Sometimes he wondered why working hours like this existed but then he remembered all those times he pulled back to back twelve-hour shifts. Five in the morning wasn't really much of a hassle when it was put into perspective like that. Still, not too many patients were active at this hour and very few people were walking in through the emergency room; it seemed like it was far too early to suffer some form of accident but then again, these things happened all the time.

Cutting off the engine, he pushed open the driver side door and stepped out into the slightly chilly morning. There were very few cars parked at this hour, which meant the parking was a free-for-all really; there was a designated parking spot up front for doctors but he never really used them. It just seemed lazy to park two steps from the front doors, plus a little exercise for everyone wasn't going to kill them all. Slamming the car door behind him, he started off towards the hospital but stopped the moment a car sped right in to cut him off; that damn purple Legacy. He only shook his head as he waited for the driver to silence the vehicle before she stepped out.

"That was pretty smooth there, Quincy; for a moment I thought I was going to have pieces of you serve as my hood decoration."

"I'm glad to see you haven't slowed down a bit with your violent tendencies." he remarked in response; watching as she pushed the door closed before she walked around towards him. "What are you doing here this early anyways? You're not scheduled to come in for another two hours."

She shrugged softly from beneath her fluffy white jacket and carefully held her hands in the deep pockets. "Yeah well, I figured it wouldn't hurt to keep you company, right? I mean, it's mostly just the night shift here and they're probably all dead tired anyways… that gives us plenty of time to ourselves."

"Time I was going to use for work." he reminded.

"Yeah, yeah, you still have two hours for that." she spoke as she took care of the few steps that separated them. "I'm only asking for ten minutes."

There was no denying that almost animalistic purr in her eyes and that mischievous grin that only showed up when she had an idea in mind; a bad idea at that cost. It didn't help that she had closed the space between them and seemed to lightly lean her body against his own. "Uh, I really don't think the hospital parking lot is the right place for that."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Finally trying to get things picked up for now just to see where they go from here lol. **

This was definitely a bad idea.

But he couldn't really seem to drag himself away from it or out of it for that matter. For what was supposed to be a mortal body, she was still just as influential and strong. God, she was still just as beautiful and seductive as he remembered.

Maybe things were moving too fast between them. Maybe they took the wrong step and possibly pulled out the last stand on this 'relationship' of theirs but between the heated contact of her lips against his own… nothing seemed to matter; if anything did concern them, it was in that one moment where they wanted nothing more than the physical touch of the other. Her fingers seemed to wrestle with the lining of his jacket as she pinned him somewhere between her body and the cold metal of his vehicle door. Those purple lips felt surgically connected to his own as even the hint of separation was met with resistance and harder contact into the next embrace. Maybe the thought of taking away the only physical need they had was unacceptable and was only battled with more desire and want.

"Why is it even when I show up to work early… you still manage to make me late?" he questioned somewhere between the breathless, insatiable embrace that refused to dissolve among them.

A light chuckle seemed to vibrate from her throat as she moved her fingers to slide against the curve of his jawline; her body pressed to gain some form of authority over his own. "You still have two hours, Quincy." she purred; feeling the way his fingers seemed to tangle in her purple locks, which had long since been pulled down from their earlier style. "And I still have three minutes."

"You are insane."

"Shut up and keep kissing me, Quincy."

She didn't really have to request that from him, but still it was nice to hear. Despite the odd situation, the bad choice in surroundings, the awkward timing and the ever constant feel that everything about this just seemed rushed… it felt like it couldn't deny that connection that seemed to heat up every time she was near. Their past had erupted into this. Hell, if he could go back into the past and tell his former self about this event… he'd probably murder himself.

But he just… couldn't let go of the past, could he? Maybe that was his problem. Maybe if he just… let her go and started over with a clean slate… then maybe this whole thing wouldn't feel so weird. If he just acted as though he had never met her before, then this would all make sense. And maybe if he didn't work at a place where everyone was constantly on their tails about such 'relationship' he wouldn't be so quick to deny it. They needed time to figure this out and make sure it wasn't just some kind of raging hormonal, lust-driven kind of thing. And then maybe when things were figured out and if it still felt like this… then they could move on. Although the thought about the future of this frightened him- he wasn't going to lie about it; but it didn't prevent him from being curious about it. Maybe it would progress onward, maybe it would go somewhere, maybe they were falling for each other… they would have to see it to the end and see what stood at that crossroad.

He pulled her in for one more of their air locked embraces before he slowly let her go. "There's your ten minutes."

"Actually it was twelve but I wasn't going to stop you." she remarked with a light grin equipped. "But, I suppose if you want to keep your job, then you should finish those stupid reports of yours."

"You act like there's another doctor in this town who would be all the more willing to pick up this kind of hectic schedule." he started; watching as she attempted to re-style her hair.

She chuckled and decided to just let her locks stay down but brushed them over one shoulder. "You're probably right. Then again, I don't think I ever imagined a medical school teaching you how to fill out reports, handle hectic coworkers and date around with the secretary- but then again, so much as changed since the last time I was here."

"If they had a class on how to date the 'secretary' I probably would've taken it; at least then, all of this would be so much easier to deal with." he commented as he somewhat readjusted his jacket. "Now then, I should offer to walk you to the front door."

"Oh would you?" she replied with a tone of playful sarcasm before she lightly hook her arm with his own. "Just as a forewarning, perhaps it would be best for the rest of this long day if we… tried to pretend this little incident never happened. Although, once closing hours come around, we can just forget about that little façade."

"That would only really benefit you and those… odd desires of yours." he chuckled as the two started their way across the parking lot. It was a little brighter but not by much, in fact it was probably only by one flickering street lamp about halfway across the lot from them.

"Is that so?" she questioned; keeping in stride with him as her heels clicked faintly against the cracked pavement. "Well then… why don't you tell me something that would benefit the both of us instead? That would be more entertaining, yes?"

"I could but I think I'll put a little bit more thought into it first and get back to you on that."

"Might want to be careful, Quincy, because I just might try to out-think you on that one and who knows what kind of idea I would get."

"A very bad one." he chuckled as he pulled open the front door and held it for her. "And one of which, I would not completely agree to."

"Or so you think."

Not even the lobby seemed like it was lit at this time of morning; maybe one lamp was turned on but the corners of the waiting lounge were still darkened. There didn't seem like there was a trace of anyone inside, it was hard to imagine that the place was even running at this hour. But knowing some people in this world, it would be far too dangerous to even think of closing it down for a few hours- and even then, that happened on very rare occasions.

"Do I even want to know what your conversation was?" Albert questioned with a stifled yawn as he stepped out into the lobby; one hand rubbing at the back of his head.

"Why is it that it seems like you always managed to manifest yourself right as soon as we walk in?" Ishida remarked.

"I've been here for thirteen hours now, I'll do what I want."

"Well just think, you get to go home and spend the rest of your day in bed." Cirucci reminded as she walked over to her desk and switched on the lamp at one corner; she dropped her bag into the chair and slowly started to remove her jacket. "Hey, maybe that means I can actually get some work done."

"You should've seen it, around three hours ago, me and some of the nurses were racing the floor cleaners around." Albert remarked.

"I was wondering why the floors seemed so clean."

"Well it's not like we intended to do that but it was still pretty fun." Albert nodded with some kind of pleased look on his face. "I should really go home and go to bed before I start to hallucinate again."

"If you're already starting the stage of hallucinating… maybe you should go to a different hospital, like the ones with padded walls and ceilings." Ishida started; watching as the nurse only shook his head in response.

"Hey now, my housemate went to one of those and he said they're actually really nice." Cirucci added. "And I would trust him because he's pretty fucked up and insane, but he still keeps a good judgment on certain things. Like for instance, he's the one who handpicked all the furniture in our house and every time we have guests over, they always compliment us on the room theme. I think we might've gone somewhere with a 'I hate your guts' and 'Go die in a horrifying manner' mix style."

"… Interesting… well I think I'm going to go home now while I'm still conscious." Albert started as he started to head back to his desk. "I'll get Milianne, and see if she wants to drive with me and make sure I don't crash."

"Or just looking for someone to go home with you." Cirucci teased. "Wouldn't I like that every once in awhile."

"That's disgusting." Ishida added.

"I hate you."

He only shook his head at her remark and chuckled lightly as he continued on to his office. The next two hours would be hell but at least the rest of the day should be somewhat enjoyable- mainly for the fact that Albert would be out of his hair for awhile. Maybe he would actually get some work done, that is if Cirucci would let him- and knowing her, that was never a concrete wish. He was halfway through unlocking his office door before he heard Albert and Milianne making their way back down the long corridor.

"I don't know, sometimes I can't help but to wonder what their sex life would be like."

* * *

"Hey, those reports you sent out a few weeks ago came back and I went through them to make sure they were all checked off properly; they should probably be filed about now, but I didn't know if you wanted to make some last minute notations on them. And I wasn't really going to waste my time if you decided that you did want to add notations after I had already filed them; time is of the essence and I'm already killing myself by being here." Cirucci started as she pushed aside his office door with the curve of her hip and shifted through the different colored folders in hand. "It shouldn't take that long to look at them but who knows, you're probably a slow reader for all I know. Also, I was thinking about that offer you said earlier to find something that would benefit the both of us-"

"That wasn't an offer, I told you I could think of one before you did- for safety reasons of course." Ishida interrupted; pulling himself away from his computer long enough to speak to her. "As for those reports, I think I will look through them one more time to make sure everything's accurate before I put it through the system; I wouldn't want to mess up on someone's medical information because of haste. Also, with the whole benefiting thing… I've put some thought into and… I think I want to take you out again."

She seemed to chuckle lightly as she walked over to set the folders on his desk. "Sounds good enough, lunch break is in half an hour-"

"No, I meant I want to take you out… on a real date."

"And by real date, you mean…?"

"There's a restaurant downtown that usually has a month-long waiting list just to get a reservation; I have one set up for two weeks from now and I was hoping you would accompany me."

"How exactly did you manage to swing that one?" she questioned as she carefully seated herself on the edge of his desk. "Did you do some kind of emergency surgery on the manager or something?"

"His wife actually; she had a minor tumor just below her ribcage which was easy to remove and had been caught early enough to prevent it from spreading." he explained.

"And he could only fit you in at two weeks?" she teased.

"I thought I'd give you some time to think about it and, I don't know, go pick out something nice to wear."

She hummed lightly to herself in thought and tried to pick over the entire situation in her head. It was a bit of an understatement to say it was a little surprising on how he managed to spring this one her but… she liked it. She certainly didn't expect that kind of behavior or offer from him but then again, maybe he was hiding it from her this whole time. "You know what, I accept; I'll get a dress picked out this weekend and you better be ready to pick me up by the time our 'date' comes around."

He wasn't really surprised that she had accepted so early but still, he let out a quiet sigh of relief at her answer. "Good, because I really didn't want to have to call back and cancel it."

"Even if not, I'm sure you could've persuaded one of your other girlfriends to go with you." she teased.

"They're just not as fun as you are." he replied.

"That's good to hear." she chuckled before she pushed herself back onto her feet. "Although you know, this whole thing with trying to benefit each other, it makes me think of friends with-"

"Get out of my office."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: The reviews have been really quite heart-warming lately (so cheesy to say) but it definitely makes me feel better about this story. I struggle with it from time to time and it frustrates me greatly when I can't get it to be the right length and ends up coming short of a paragraph or two. I'm really quite harsh when it comes to criticising myself about this story, but alas, you guys keep me going with it. To be honest, this is one of the most fun stories I've typed so far and hopefully I'll be able to type more like these; I just like the idea of having some sort of an 'original' story to run with, although I think the couple really makes the entire thing. Also, a lot of dialogue like this chapter annoys me and it feels like it's doing little to describe the story but for some reason, I couldn't image this piece going anywhere else. And fear not, the reason I didn't label anyone on the other line is done so purposely and will be explained later.**

"So, guess who has a date in two weeks?"

"Another woman already? Jeez, where does he find all these women? I didn't think there were that many people living in this town."

Cirucci rolled her eyes lightly as she balanced the phone against her shoulder and leaned back in her chair. The lobby was barely filled, with maybe a few here or there collected in the corners of the room and everyone else was too busy in the back wards to even bother her- so a little phone call wasn't going to hurt anyone. "I was talking about me, you buffoon."

There was a pause of silence on the other end for a moment.

"Ugh, who would want to take you out?"

The playful tease in the woman's tone was noted and she chuckled lightly in response. "Yeah well, you know, you gotta show a little leg and give a little before you get something back."

"Sounds about right, and sounds a lot like my case, except that the thing I got back wasn't exactly in my plans."

"I'm guessing the baby kept you up again last night?" she questioned; listening to the long, almost exasperated sigh that followed in answer.

"It's been keeping me up for days now; I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when he's actually born. But I'm about a day or two from telling him that the lease is up and he's gotta get out."

She shook her head and laughed at the woman's response. "Oh you'll say that now but you know what everyone says-"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll regret it later but for the present time, you can write down my words as such." the woman scoffed. "But, we're not talking about me, or this baby; we're gonna sit down and talk about this 'date' of yours. Is it with that cute doctor you were always bragging about?"

"I was not bragging." she objected; listening as the woman whispered a soft 'whatever' response. "But, yes, yes it is; he asked me this morning and I went ahead and accepted it. I mean, it would be rude to turn down that kind of offer after how we spent our early morning out in the parking lot."

"Sounds dirty but so much like you."

"What can I say, it's true." Cirucci shrugged.

"So… are you guys like dating now or just in it for the fun?"

She narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment; her memories tracing back to previous conversations as she tried to figure out if they had or hadn't been serious before. "Well… it's kind of a complicated matter; I think we just dance around the topic about it. We're kind of in that stage where it's just more fun to make out than do anything else."

"Well then… maybe this date is the next step in that. Think you can handle it?"

"Pft, honey, you've seen half the men I've dated; I don't think this one is going to be much of a struggle." she chuckled "It's been… an uphill kind of battle but nothing I haven't dealt with before."

"But he's different, right? I mean, you certainly talk about him in a different way and you don't normally wear someone down like you've been doing."

"That was for a completely different reason," she reminded. "Besides… he's just… he's just really different from all the other guys I've dated; he actually has charm and manners."

"That's a new one for you; you must be venturing out of your comfort zone."

She chuckled lightly and shrugged. "Yeah but you know what they say, the bad guys are so much better in bed."

"Oh believe me, I 'married' one."

"Well then, it's a no wonder you're pregnant."

"What can I say? We were going on a three day binge."

"Ew gross, why would you tell me that?" she questioned with a tease in her tone.

"Because I've had to listen to every one of your weird escapades. But anyways, off that topic and back to your date, where's he taking you? Have you picked out a dress yet?"

And here they went with the questions. "I didn't really ask, he just said it was some fancy restaurant downtown that's impossible to get reservations for. As for a dress, I was planning on going out this weekend to get a new one; you wanna ride with me?"

"I'm planning on having this baby this weekend." the woman chuckled on the other end. "And how fancy is this restaurant? I mean, you should probably figure out how much you need to base the price tag on. Believe me when I say if the guy says it's not too big of a deal- it is; all he has to do is wear a suit and tie. You have to get the dress, the shoes, the accessories, the hair and the makeup."

"Hmmm you make a point, I didn't think of that before." Cirucci mused. "I'm going to bring up that question as soon as I can catch a break around here."

"Call me later when you figure it out, I might have a dress or two you could borrow if you want."

"I could fit my head into one of your bras, I don't think your dress will be able to fit on me." Cirucci reminded; looking up in time to see Milianne standing at her desk. "Hey, I'll call you back, work is tailing me right now."

"You gotta stop calling me when you're on the hour."

"Yeah but that just sucks all the fun out of it." she remarked before she tossed the phone back onto its receiver. "Sorry about that, my pregnant friend won't stop calling me about her baby."

"Ah yes, I guess it's around that time of the year again." Milianne chuckled. "Nothing more than coming in to work and watching the maternity nurses wanting to kill everyone in sight; I could never work in that ward- I can't even bear to stay halfway a day in there."

"I can't stand to see a baby in public, so I might have to ditch out on my friend for a couple of years until she comes back with like a teenager or something." Cirucci shrugged. "Now what is that you wanted?"

"Oh, I was going to drop off some more files; we have a busy schedule next week so we're trying to get all the paperwork done and out of the way before the patients get here." Milianne explained as she handed over some of the beige-colored manila folders. "That way the most we'll have to worry about at that point is royally screwing up during the surgery."

"I'll try not to distract the doctor that much then." she humored lightly as she flipped through the folders for a bit. "Some of these papers don't have signatures on them, should I go ahead and file them or get whatshisface to sign them off first?"

"Signatures missing? When did that- ugh, Albert." Milianne groaned almost angrily; her hands planting themselves on her hips. "I'll take them to get signed and then I'll go beat the blonde out of that boy."

"Here, I'll take these and get those signatures; you can go ahead with the beatings." Cirucci offered as she pushed herself from her chair and gathered the folders together. "Twice the work in half the time, right?" She watched as the older nurse only gave it a second of thought before she nodded in response and walked off to find the said nurse in trouble. Chuckling to herself, she walked herself down the main corridor and along the familiar path once more; it felt like every day she was in this hallway at least for half of her working hours here. Not to say that she was complaining about it though.

Knocking once on the office door, she pushed her way in and welcomed herself inside.

"I have some files and some questions for you."

"I'll just handle the files, thanks." Ishida replied; looking up as she closed the office door behind him.

"Yeah well, answer my questions and I'll let you have these." she bargained. "Anyways, I was wondering… just how nice is this restaurant exactly?"

"It's one of those dress and tie kind of places. Why?"

"Well, it's going to tell me whether or not I need to spend just half my paycheck on a dress or my entire paycheck on one. Also if I need to drag my housemate out and help me pick one." she answered. "And should I get a comfortable one or one that boosts my sex appeal but squeezes my ribs into each other; that also applies to what kind of shoes I get to go with it."

"I have to ask but, is that the thought process every woman goes through when picking out a dress?" he questioned.

"This is one of the many unsolved mysteries about womankind; do we really kill our ankles and backs just to look like a million bucks? The answer to that would be… well something for us females to know and for you men to ponder about until you get lost in our cleavage." she shrugged.

"That is certainly an interesting view on it." he started.

"So what do you think? Half or all my paycheck? You know what, to be safe, I'll just go with all; although I could make any dress look good regardless of its price."

"So then… why bother coming in here and asking that question in the first place?"

"It's a difficult thought process that I personally don't think the mind of a man could comprehend." she answered. "I probably won't bother to get my hair done, it'll more than likely get messed up later on in the evening anyways."

"Can I have those files now?"

"What? Oh yeah, I forgot I had these-" Cirucci started; stopping about midway as her cell phone went off. "Whoop, hang on, this might be important." it took her a moment as she tried to fish the device out of her shirt pocket before she answered. "What do you want? I'm on working hours… What? Girl, stop asking me that, you know I'll tell you when that happens… Look, I'll call you back- and no, that doesn't mean I'm going to sleep with him now and call you back in an hour, stop assuming that."

"You know what, you can just leave those files on the door and I'll get to them later…"


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I believe this chapter may lead into some hassles for later lol.**

Hands ran down the silk-like folds in her dress as she attempted to smooth out the wrinkles that collected around the curves and dips of her body; her slender figure seemed perfectly fitted in the thin fabric and it felt as though it was practically wrapped around her instead. She admired the way she looked in it and honestly couldn't have found a better dress- although maybe some partial credit went to the friends who had helped her pick it out; they did vote on it but ultimately it was her decision in the end and she had to compliment herself on such a good choice.

Okay so, time for her to go through her short checklist for now and make sure everything was set in place and in working order.

Hair- check.

Shoes- check.

Dress- check.

Make up- check.

Looking sexy as hell- that was a given.

Now just to wait for the Quincy to come pick her up- thank God the housemate would be out for a majority of the night.

She had gone on plenty of dates before- none of them that needed this much getup- but the thought of this one… it made her queasy a little bit. Of course, she was just going to blame it on the soup she ate earlier and it definitely wasn't her nerves acting up; in fact, those were probably the last thing on a long list of things that could've been causing that feeling. It felt like the last two weeks had gone by almost too quickly and before she knew it, she was rushing to pick out a dress with the date just around the corner. Not that their 'relationship' had progressed much from that date at the 'bar' as he insisted on calling it; they went out to lunch every other day and walked each other to their respective cars, but it wasn't really much of an improvement or advancement. She guessed it was because of her rather laid-back sense in dating and his… well unnecessary need to impress her- not that he did anyways. Or it could've been the week-long schedule of back-to-back surgeries that kept him working almost around the clock every day. She had made bets with the other hospital staff about when he would eventually crash but, surprisingly enough, it had yet to happen- or at least, they weren't there to witness it when it did. They still had people questioning them on their level of 'romance' but it hadn't really moved far from where they just enjoyed making out from time to time. Anything more than that, he objected to- but she still rather enjoyed teasing him about it and watching it unnerve him a bit; some things had yet to change between them. Including his inability to properly respond to her sometimes awkward remarks and/or questions.

Oh, this date was going to be very interesting.

Checking herself once more in her full-length mirror, she admired herself again before she grabbed her things and headed out. For the safety of the situation, she figured it would be more appropriate to leave her phone on her bed instead; or else deal with the constant texts about how the date was going or asking if she had slept with him yet. Oh, how her friends knew her well. Just the thought of their initial reactions alone made her chuckle lightly as she pulled her bedroom door closed behind her and headed down the staircase; listening to the sound of her heels click against the smooth, hardwood surface.

Although, she would admit, it was a little odd to have him driving over to her place and picking her up. Not that she had much to complain about, at least it assured her that there was still some chivalry in this day and age; really the only other person she had seen it personally from was from her housemate, and that was only on a few occasions. But, the fact that he would actually know where she lived now… it just made her feel vulnerable for some odd reason. She guessed in case this date didn't go over that well, then they both had a good chance in killing one another in a surprise attack. Like that would ever happen though. It was a common fact she would surely get the upper hand over him.

"Puurraur?"

She looked down at the noise and watched as the resident white feline sat at the bottom of the staircase. The feline was something mixed between either a Persian or a Maine Coon, because the damn thing had hair longer than hers.

"And just what do you want?" she chuckled as she stepped off the last step and stooped down just long enough to scratch it behind one ear. "Always getting in my way, aren't you?" a deep purr left the cat as it stood up and proceeded to try to wave between her legs- slightly failing as her long dress hindered its motives; the realization of such brought a loud scream from the feline. "Hey, I didn't tell you to do that, so don't blame it on me."

She watched as the feline skidded off suddenly, as if just noticing that this wasn't the room it wanted to be in; shaking her head, she could only wonder what the hell was going through the cat's mind whenever it decided to race off to someplace else. Yeah, she might've once represented an animal but still, she wasn't that crazy. Stupid cat.

A crash in the next room told her that the feline had found yet another object to break.

The knock on the door convinced her to forget about the mess.

Brushing aside one stray lock of hair, she took a hold of the doorknob and pulled it open; revealing her 'date' on the other side of the door. She couldn't help but to notice how finely dressed he was and how attractive he looked in the almost slim-fitting suit of his. The entire ensemble was white, which was a color that seemed to fit him well. From the tailored jacket, to the dress shirt underneath and even to the slacks that helped to finish off the outfit, every piece fitted him perfectly and helped to enhance that slender shape of his body- something that came to her as oddly attractive.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm actually surprised you arrived on time; it kind of seems rare with the guys I date to show up at the right hour."

With how she was dressed… he almost found that hard to believe.

Her dress was incredibly form-fitting against her slender built and only served to emphasize on that kind of sexual appeal she always boasted about; however, in that dress, there was no possible way to deny her that. A small collar piece opened up around her neck and tied together just over her collarbones; her shoulders and arms were covered in the tight-material, which showed off the lean yet almost lightly muscular forms beneath. There was no sense in trying to avoid the deep cut in the front of the dress that opened up enough to reveal the almost pressed inner curves of her breasts. From there, the outfit showed off the slim form of her waistline and slender curves of her hips before the dress split over her left thigh and fell downward in a lightly folded sheet that graced her ankles. Her curved leg was dressed in a skin-tight, white stocking that followed every contour and dip down to the long heels that adorned her feet and boosted her height a few inches.

There was really quite no way of denying that sudden sense of elegance and distinguished beauty that came all too naturally to her. Those deep-purple locks were pulled back before they fell as thick curls down the curve of her neck and over the shape of her shoulders. If there was anything that seemed more perfect right now, it was her.

"If we're both being honest here, then I'll admit to say I expected you to need another hour to get ready." Ishida remarked with a light chuckle.

"With beauty like mine, you don't need that long to get ready." Cirucci replied as she carefully brushed aside another curl of hair. "Well then, I'm guessing we're both ready so might as well get to this smooth and 'fancy' place you're taking me to… or we could skip out on the reservations and spend our date here."

"Uh, let's not. I really don't want to have to explain that one to the manager on why I didn't pick up on the favor that he insisted he owed me."

"Ah well, it was worth a shot." she grinned as she stepped out and pulled the door closed behind her. "I must admit, Quincy, you look exquisitely handsome for tonight; you might want to be careful, I could get used to this kind of treatment."

Her hands touched at his chest before they slowly moved their way up and linked together at the back of his neck; effortlessly pressing her body against his own as she seemed to tease the material that had wrapped itself around her breasts. "And if there was a word to describe you, it still wouldn't be good enough."

"You might as well keep talking because I'm already turning this into a habit." she chuckled as she pulled him into a quick embrace before she grabbed the front of his jacket. "Now then, let's pick up on that reservation and see if we spare a few hours for later."

"For what later?"

* * *

"When you said this place was like fine dining, I expected just fine dining but somehow it feels as though I'm severely underdressed for this occasion."

He chuckled lightly at her remark as he pulled her chair out for her. "This place isn't like that at all."

"Right." she replied sarcastically in agreement as she watched him walk back to his seat across from her. "These chairs are slightly uncomfy, this table is perfect height, the waiters are wearing tuxedos, every other couple here is wearing clothing that cost more than my house does, there's chandeliers everywhere, every table comes with an automatic order of a bottle of wine and there's probably someone in the bathroom that holds a towel you can dry your hands on. If that's not the aspects needed for 'fine dining', I don't know what else there is."

"Can you just enjoy yourself for the evening?"

"I could enjoy myself for longer if you want."

There she was with that sudden yet oddly seductive tone of hers. "Can you not make remarks like that when we're out in public? Especially when it's in an expensive place like this?"

"Can you stop asking me questions and telling me what to do?"

"This was a bad idea."

She chuckled lightly to herself and leaned against the table. "Oh come on, I didn't get all dolled up just so we could sit here and argue about this and that. Now, can we try to enjoy ourselves here and imagine that everyone else in this place is just jealous of us?"

"On one condition." he started.

"Anything."

"Stop leaning against the table, it's pushing your cleavage out."

A long, playfully dry sigh left her as she leaned back into her chair now; fingertips teased the open split down the middle of her chest. "If you knew how much this dress cost me, then you would understand why I deserve to have my breasts pushing out if I want them too."

"I wasn't criticizing your dress, I was just saying- forget it, forget I said anything about it." he replied.

"Smart choice, Quincy." she grinned as her fingers toyed with the single clip in the front that held the front of the dress together. "So, what is it that people discuss when it comes to talking in these kind of places? I mean, I have plenty of things to say but in this setting, I might get kicked out."

"Anything that doesn't involve surgeries is fine with me."

"I saw this show yesterday where a guy's stomach was shoved up into his diaphragm through a quarter-size hole at the bottom. Is that possible?"

"And suddenly, I no longer care for this conversation."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: This is probably going to be the only update for this week until I can figure out this next chapter; then I can link it together with some other ideas and get things moving once more. Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. Gotta fix it.**

"But seriously, is it possible?"

"For the love of- yes, yes it's possible; it's called a hiatus hernia and can be incredibly painful, now will you please stop asking me about it."

She chuckled lightly at the slight annoyance in his voice when he spoke. "Oh come on, I've only asked like three times-"

"Five times. You've asked me five times about it."

"Okay fine, I've asked about it five times but you can't really blame me. My housemate enjoys watching those stupid medical documentaries all the time whenever they're on TV and I got hooked on them; it's like watching the Food Channel." Cirucci shrugged as she carefully ran her fingertip around the circular rim of her wineglass. "Do you ever watch those kind of documentaries?"

"Personally, I think they're stupid, dramatic and only work for the number of viewers but then again, I guess that's how all shows work." Ishida replied.

She leaned forward and knitted her fingers underneath her chin. "So what kind of shows do you watch? Or do you even have time to watch TV?"

He took note of her sudden interest and tried not to play too much into it. "I was never a big fan; half of my life was spent studying and the other half is spent working. But every now and then, I'll turn it on just to ridicule whatever show is playing. Or sometimes, I'll leave it on to listen to if I'm doing something else, but that's about it."

"Ah, well most of the time I turn it on, play with the cat and fall asleep."

"Sounds about right."

"Well I guess that's one thing that yet again, separates us." she humored lightly as she carefully twirled some of her curls between her fingers. "You know, oddly enough, I think I'm regretting the decision to leave my phone behind."

"That bored, huh?" he replied; catching the light chuckle from her lips.

"No, not yet, in case that happens, I'll just excuse myself to the ladies room and never come back." she assured. "But actually, my friend told me she was going to be having her baby this weekend- and she was dead certain about it, whether or not the baby was ready to. And now I'm curious about it."

"Yes well, I've heard those kind of horror stories from Milianne." he started as he leaned back in his chair now. "I try not to deal with that side of the hospital."

"So you don't-"

"No, no I don't."

She chuckled once more at his sudden, interruptive answer. "So then… you wouldn't need to be at the hospital in case she was there, right?"

"No, there are plenty of maternity nurses there who can handle it and if not, there's a 'maternity doctor' that Milianne knows and can call in."

"Good, because I didn't want her to be on my ass because I decided to distract the only doctor in town from her delivery. God knows I wouldn't hear the end of it- and she would probably name her baby after something to insult me."

"How exactly would she-"

"If you knew who she married, you would understand everything; you'd also understand why we were all surprised when she got pregnant in the first place- well, not so much that because they used to have sex all the time-"

"This is why I never ask you about your friends."

"That's the safest option but they're just so entertaining sometimes." she started. "We could talk about your friends if you want to but you seem like such a loner."

"Yeah, well sometimes it's just easier to… let people go." he remarked. "Plus my job keeps me busy and I was never really a people-person to begin with. Do we have to talk about this?"

"Okay fine, we should try to find something else just as socially awkward to talk about." she easily shrugged. "I figured if we get all of that out of the way, then everything else should be easy to discuss, right? Now let's see… how many people have you dated before?"

Why was it that she always insisted on asking the most absurd and most awkward questions? It was like she knew that he would've much rather avoiding those topics- in fact, she knew he did and that was the only reason she was asking them now. It was ridiculous but seeing as he really had no other topic to converse about right now… he supposed he could answer her questions in as few words as possible; he wasn't looking forward to what she would have to say in return. "I've dated a few-"

"How many is a few?"

"Why do we have to have this discussion?"

"I'm just curious." she shrugged. "I mean, you've dated a 'few' and I have dated… many."

"Well, how many is many?"

"… A lot."

"To be honest, that is not surprising."

She chuckled at his remark and moved her hands to smooth out some of the wrinkles in her dress. "Yes, well when you're one of very, very few and rare female Arrancars, you kind of get the free pickings when it comes to a mate. And when they don't work out, there's no problems letting go and moving on. As far as we were concerned, we weren't really destined to live long before one of us went psycho and destroyed the others. No time for regrets or jealousy."

"You talk like you almost miss those times." Ishida remarked; watching as she wrinkled her nose playfully in return.

"Ew, no. Those men were mostly just scumbags and free rides. You have to remember, no one really gave a shit about each other unless there was some kind of special connection between them. So when it came down to 'dating' we were all really just fucking with each other. Most of those 'relationships' were just like a one-dimensional paper sheet; easy and willing to rip apart."

"Were they all like that?"

"Nah, I mean, I dated very few actually decent kind of guys. Actually awkwardly enough, I dated both Dordoni and Gantenbainne at one point- not at the same time but it was still pretty weird. You know, I think it just got to the point where we were kind of just there for the cold nights and loneliness."

"Those names you mentioned… did you have that special connection with them?"

"Ha ha no… we just tried to keep what was left of our dignity and seem proud of the new title of 'Privaron' instead. I don't think it worked out that well but we tried to keep focus and calm knowing that we had each other- shit, that sounded sappy."

"I didn't want to say anything about it." he chuckled.

"You were probably enjoying it; I probably just confessed that I do have those 'emotions' you humans always speak of." she teased as she carefully pushed herself out of her chair. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have to go vomit the rest of that sappiness from my stomach."

"Are you sure you're not just going to try and ditch out on me?" he remarked as she passed by.

"Oh you would've known."

Well if there was an appropriate word to describe that conversation, it would've been the most common one: awkward. He was personally not the least bit interested in the men she had dated in the past and quick frankly, he would've been okay with not knowing about them at all. But… there was an odd sense of vulnerability when she talked about them; that strange sense of 'emotion' as she had worded it earlier. He had been a witness to her different moods and swings but he had really seen little of her emotional side; most of the time, she was just teasing him so it was hard for him to even take her seriously. Although now he supposed he should try and change that view of her- especially since they both seemed pretty set on staying in this situation.

It was still odd to think about and he tried not to… but sometimes it was impossible to avoid.

It had taken them, what? Months to get to this point? And now… now it felt like everything was coming along smoothly- he had a feeling that wasn't going to last long though. He kept thinking back on everything between them, from the very start of their confrontation to this point; where exactly lines blurred and disappeared was still a lost piece of the puzzle. And until that piece was found, if it ever had the chance to be found, this 'thing' between them was going to remain a mystery. The term 'dating' didn't fit right; the status of a 'relationship' felt too weird; and it felt like it would be a cold day in hell before he introduced her as his girlfriend again.

Maybe he should acknowledge the fact that… this thing between them was never going to be solved; that really, there would be no words to properly describe it.

Hell, he wasn't even entirely sure how he 'felt' about her.

There were moments where he still felt that bitterness towards her; others were met with more of a 'sympathetic' like gesture; and sometimes he wondered if there really was anything between them- it just felt fake.

But… maybe he was wrong. Hell, what did he know about 'love?' It's not like he had witnessed much of it growing up.

Wait, wait, wait… did he use the term 'love?'

The feeling of a pair of hands slowly sliding down the middle of her chest pulled him from his thoughts as he felt her arms lightly hook around his shoulders. There was that brief contact as her warm breath seemed to ease its way down the back of his neck; uplifting a slight shudder from his spine.

"You sure it's too late to go back to my place?" she whispered; her voice hinted with a spike of seduction.

"You honestly can't sit still for a few hours, can you?"

She chuckled and twisted the material of his tie around her fingers. "Only when I want to."

"Well could you choose now to be one of those moments?"

"Stop asking me questions and telling me what to do, although I kind of find it attractive coming from you…" she teased.

"Would you like to order your drinks now or would you prefer if I came back later?"

He looked up at the question and noticed the suited waiter in front of them. Of course, only now would one actually show up when _someone_ here couldn't keep her hands to herself.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say you guys probably don't serve hard liquor here." she started. "So… you can get me a glass of water to counterbalance all the wine I've already consumed- I wouldn't want my date here to think I'm going to make the night easy for him."

"Please tell me you didn't just say that."

"You know what, bring out another bottle of that wine, I think my date here needs to loosen up some more."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I want to apologize for the long wait, I had a hard time trying to break through some minor writer's block when it came to this story and tried to work on some other projects to get the ideas going. Unfortunately that didn't help so I had to force myself to grind through a new chapter and then try to make improvments on it. As you can probably tell, I personally don't think it worked out that well but I'm going to work off of it for now. **

The almost lack of conversation topics and the burning feel of her eyes on him seemed to raise the overall room temperature by a hundred degrees. Suddenly he no longer felt comfortable in this situation, to be honest, not that he really did from the beginning. It was probably just the silence though… and her just sitting there… staring at him, with that little smirk of hers.

"Are you uncomfortable?"

"Is it noticeable?"

"If a man came into the hospital bleeding and screaming, would it be noticeable that he had been injured in some way or another?"

"… Yeah that was a stupid question."

She chuckled lightly to herself and leaned in against the table; curling her fingers underneath her chin once more. "Well, to be honest, we're probably making everyone uncomfortable with us just sitting here and staring at one another like we're on death row together; you know what, on second thought, let's keep doing this and see if they make complaints."

"Most complaints come from people making too much noise; I don't think they'll really care if we don't make any noise, in fact, they just might thank us instead." he remarked. "Although they should really be quite glad that you're not making any conversation at the moment."

"Oh, is that so? Well I guess there are a lot of good evenings that I have to ruin now."

"How about not."

"Always ruining my fun, Quincy."

"I don't see it as 'ruining your fun' as much as I see it as 'saving the world.'" he started. "And seeing all the damage you've done already, I think it's safe to say that I still have a lot of work to do."

A light arch came to her eyebrow as she seemed to challenge his comment. "So you think this is the worst I can do then?"

"No, I don't and stop making that face; it makes me nervous about what you're thinking of."

"I can give you hint."

He picked up on that little 'singing' tone in her voice as the words seemed to slip from her tongue so easily; it was a frightening mix of different concepts and… he didn't really want to be around if she went through with them. "I don't even want to know what it would be and before you even start to mention something, because I know you will, I'm not planning on going home with you tonight; stop trying to plant that idea in my head."

He was on to her.

A light chuckle picked up from her lips as she only grinned back at him. "Smooth, I'll keep that in mind for later."

"Why do I let you do this?"

"Because we're standing on opposite ends of the spectrum; trying to find some kind of balance in playing the part of where we're madly in love with one another and being that part. It's like trying to have two people stand on opposite ends of a seesaw and make it balance out perfectly. Nearly impossible really, seeing as one person always loses balance and tips the whole thing over; at that point, you just have to pick up the pieces and go on. And hope that you'll get that balance next time around."

Sometimes, just sometimes, when she talked like that… it was like conversing with a completely different person.

"I feel as though it would be rather neglecting to say that you amaze me when you speak like that."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. It's like with just a snap of the fingers, you can almost change everything about you without entirely changing your appeal. You go from this… essentially light-hearted, careless figure to this brooding piece of mystery without a blink of hesitation. One minute, you're talking about awkward and uncomfortable conversation topics and the next… I don't even know what happens."

"It's my womanly essence that confuses those of the male species. Mostly my breasts though."

"Moment ruined."

"Excellent, so now we can move onto another topic of choice." she remarked. "Let me ask you something Quincy, you always seem so uptight and strict and overall like one of those people who only follows the rules and kind of ruins it for everyone else; you know, the kind of guy who-"

"I get your point."

"You just seem so cautious, I was kind of wondering how you always managed to get your ass kicked. I'm going off the assumption that you get your ass kicked a lot because… well you look like the kind to-"

"On second thought, let's just go back to one of those previous conversations we were having."

"I'm being serious here."

He shook his head at her remark and watched as she tried to recompose herself with a light chuckle. "So, we go from having this semi-intelligent, deep conversation where it seemed like we were actually going somewhere… and then you start insulting me… how is that being serious again?"

"Okay here, let me rephrase all of that without introducing my own opinions into it." Cirucci started; taking a moment to phrase the words together. "Alright, so what I want to know is … how does someone like you, so cautious and strategic, manage to miss a step in battle?"

It was an odd question and he wasn't entirely sure how to answer it; in fact, he was almost more concerned with what she wanted to know it for. Was she planning something? A low sigh passed him as he leaned back in his chair. "Mostly because of stupid things and stupid reasons."

"Like?" she pressed.

"A lot of it was from trying to protect people who… looking back on it, seemed kind of pointless to try and protect. I mean, I don't regret what I had to do and given the chance, I'd probably end up doing it again but… I might change my reasons why. Some of them needed to be protected, but others I kind of see it as being a waste of time now."

She tried not to notice how he seemed to be connecting each word with a different person; she didn't know who he was talking about but every word and phrase was directed towards someone who wasn't right here with them. "I guess I can see how that would be kind of stupid."

"And not all of them were achieved like that, believe it or not, I have been out-strategize before."

Okay that was directed towards her.

"To be honest, I feel kind of jealous knowing that I didn't give you some of the more noticeable ones." she teased.

"Noticeable to who? Because I can assure you myself, the injuries you inflicted on me affected me the most."

"What an ego boost."

There was no denying that silent sense of cheering in her words; why did he have to say that? It was only going to fuel her even more. "Well then, explain to me how someone who managed to out strategize me managed to lose a few battles- going off the assumption that you lost a few before hand."

"Ah well, I have this scar on my leg when Dordoni and I were- oh wait, that story's a bit inappropriate, never mind." she started before giving into another grin. "Unless you're curious."

"I don't want to know, in fact I don't even want to think about it." he quickly denied.

"It's so interesting though. Okay uh… there's this scar on my back I got from- ooh, that story's not appropriate either."

"You know what, let's just… not talk about scars or injuries anymore." Ishida sighed. "Because I have a feeling that there's not a single one with an appropriate story."

She tried to recall all of the stories that went with each invisible mark; trying to find a way to disprove him in some way. No, no he might actually be correct. Well a lot of them weren't entirely inappropriate but they started off in that sense… the more she thought about it, the more interesting they got actually. "I think you might be right for once Quincy, I don't think I have a single one- oh wait, there's this one on my neck that's actually pretty decent."

"Do I want to know?" he questioned.

"Decapitation."

She assumed by the sudden exchange of expressions that he was either caught off-guard by the answer, not amused by it, or possibly both; maybe a little bit of shocked and kind of disgusted too. Hell, she wasn't entirely a mastermind when it came to reading people's expressions so it could've been a combination of all things possible.

But his silence seemed to hint at something else too.

"… To be fair, it wasn't a clean hit either; it took two swings-"

"I'd much rather _not _hear about the details in that matter, alright."

Ooh there was a kind of snap in his voice with the words and she watched as the mix of expressions from before seemed to collect together now; he didn't like where she had taken the conversation and he sure as hell wasn't comfortable with it either. It had just been a mere phrase to her and yet… he seemed all the more upset over it. She wasn't entirely sure but suddenly… she wanted to press the subject; she had a feeling that it was only going to dig further underneath his skin but since when did she not find that immensely enjoyable?

"You know, maybe if you're lucky, I'll show you the scar you gave me-"

"Cirucci, seriously, I would really prefer if we didn't discuss this right now." he interrupted.

"Why are you getting so defensive over this?" she questioned as she leaned back into her chair now. "It was one comment and suddenly you act like I murdered your entire family."

"That's not funny and I'd just rather not talk about this."

"Always so uptight, aren't we?"

He could already tell this whole thing was going to go downhill and at a faster rate than expected. While it was difficult to try to keep calm and in touch with the subject, that alone seemed to be enough to seemingly irritate her. "Look, if you want to fight, then we can fight but let's hold it off till later, alright."

"And just prolong my much anticipated victory, sure we'll go with that."

"Yeah sure, the only one you'll have."

"Oh? Is that so?" she challenged with a slight tilt of the head. "This coming from the man who didn't even have the balls to kill me."

"Is that what this whole thing was about? …You just couldn't help it, could you?" he started; already regretting how things were turning out. "And to think, I was actually stupid enough to fall for your game; I actually fell for you. And yet, this whole time, you just wanted to bring that up. You know, I actually thought I had gotten to the point where I could overlook my past and overlook every single person I had to deal with along the way… and then you came along. For a moment, I thought things were different; I had actually accepted what happened between us back then; I actually tried to convince myself that you weren't just here to kill me, but I can see how stupid it was for me to think that. I guess you really were going to stay true to your word when you said you were going to make my life a living hell, because that's exactly what you're doing."

It was easy to see that the words hit her exactly the way he wanted them to.

No… no that's not what he wanted them to do, in fact he didn't even want to say any of that; he didn't mean to just lose control… but the damage was already done.

It took her a moment before she inhaled sharply as though the words had finally seemed to catch up to her. He swore he saw her lower lip tremble for a moment before she pushed herself from the table; one hand smoothing aside the small, barely noticeable wrinkles in her dress. "You're right. But you know what, you're not the only one who was stupid here. I can't believe I was actually stupid enough to think you could change me… to think… forget it, it's all in the past now, isn't it? Maybe it's a good thing we caught this mistake early on."

What mistake?

Slowly, she moved around the table and brushed passed him. "When you're through here, take me home."

Oh shit…

Letting out an irritated sigh, he pushed aside his chair and followed after her; cursing himself for the drastic change in the mood and telling himself to deal with the restaurant later. He could still see her white dress through the crowds just before it disappeared out into the parking lot. How could he have let this happen? Why the hell did he just- fuck it, he'd deal with it later.

Pushing aside the entrance door, he stepped out into the mildly cool evening; the chilling breeze reminded him of how tense the interior atmosphere had been. Moving across the filled lot, he paused just slightly when he saw her. And yet, he didn't say anything; he couldn't. It felt like things would only get worse if he talked; it would only get worse if he said something else, which apology or not… she wouldn't want to hear it. She didn't even look to him; she acted like she didn't even acknowledge him, like he wasn't even there to begin with.

This was it.

There really was no other choice here.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: The last chapter kind of messed up my planning a bit so I had to frankenstein some ideas and other chapters together to get this. Redoing my timing a bit too, I was thinking of dragging some things out but then it would get too boring so I gotta figure out some middle ground somewhere. Planning is difficult and I hate it. **

The sight of her upcoming house only continued to feel his chest with dread; the entire evening was ruined and the silence had been prolonged to kill it even more.

She had refused to even acknowledge him at this point which he couldn't really blame her for.

The vehicle kind of rumbled its way into the driveway before he cut the ignition. "Cirucci, look-"

"No, it's fine." she cleanly interrupted as she quickly unfastened herself from the passenger seat. "I'll try not to ruin the end of this evening. So, thank you for the lovely time we got to spend together."

There was no denying the absolutely bitterness in her voice just before she pushed herself out of the vehicle. Sighing, he stepped out of the driver side and, although he wanted to follow after her, he decided to keep his distance for now. "I just-"

"I know, I know." she continued; barely even pausing as she headed up towards the front of the house. "Just, you know, when I feel like dealing with you or even being in the same vicinity as you, we can talk; until then, I'd much rather pretend you're just dead to me."

Damn…

Why the hell did he have to let things get this bad?

Maybe if he hadn't been such an asshole, he wouldn't be sitting here watching her walk up to the front door by herself.

The sound of a car door being slammed shut knocked him out of his thoughts. He didn't even hear it pull in, let alone even register the dying headlights that blinded him momentarily now. It more than likely belonged to her housemate, which probably meant he should be leaving about now.

"Ooh, so she wasn't kidding when she said you two were dating."

That voice sounded oddly familiar but he tried not to put a lot of focus on it, in fact he tried to ignore it overall. The last thing he wanted to do was get into a confrontation with her housemate, not to say it would happen but… well hell, with half the things she had mentioned about him, it seemed like the two didn't hold much back from one another.

"I didn't really think she would go for a guy with a weak stomach."

Okay… now something was up.

He looked over towards the source of the voice and caught only a brief glimpse of the person's face- or at least as much of it that had been highlighted by the flame of his lighter. But then again, that was all he needed to see.

"You have got to be fucking me." Ishida muttered.

"Hmmm no, I'm pretty sure that's what she's for- that is unless you did something to upset her." Szayel shrugged as he slipped his lighter back into his jacket pocket; his fingers going back to retrieve the cigarette that balanced on his lips. "Which, deciphering her absence out here and the expression on your face, I wouldn't be surprised if I just missed the confrontation by a few minutes."

Every part of him felt like melting down into a fit of denial but… it was impossible to deny it now. Yeah, he tried to convince himself that she was the only case, but damnit! He was really hoping anyone else's resurrection would've been a stretch or at least someone in Soul Society would've caught notice of it. But then again, he didn't even know the fucking physics of how this all happened or how it could've been corrected. "Wait… you're her housemate?"

"Unfortunately so, after the whole 'coming back as human' situation, we just decided it would be better if we… stayed together in a sense. It was the only way she managed to convince me to get anywhere near her again." he shrugged as he slowly released a cloud of smoke from his lips. "Or are you talking about all those sex stories she probably told you?"

"That's disgusting…"

"Well we figured we fucked before so this shouldn't really be any different."

Just the thought and/or mental images were enough to make his stomach churn on itself. "How many… are there of you? And how the hell did this exactly happen?" he watched as the pink-haired man merely shrugged at him once more. "No, if there was anything I learned about you, it's that you would know exactly how this happened and came to be."

"Well yeah, I might know a thing or two but you should really be asking yourself… why in the hell should I tell you?" Szayel replied. "I think you would find that answer to be a lot more accurate."

Of course, if this new life hadn't affected Cirucci's personality, like hell it would change his. He was still just as arrogant and narcissistic as before- it was like death didn't even affect him. As much as he'd like to press the topic, he knew well he wouldn't get anything from the man- hell he couldn't even get an answer or hint of it from Cirucci. "So… what the hell do you do anyways? I mean, I'm sure this new life of yours is nowhere compared to your former one."

The slight narrow in the man's eyes meant that he had picked up on the slight sarcastic tone in his words, but he continued to finish off his cigarette before he tossed it aside. "Because I'm sure you're just so eager to know about me." his reply was equally sarcastic. "But I figured I needed something to do to keep myself entertained for awhile, so I educated myself on some new topics of interest. As of now, I run two pharmacies but that could change in a few months- this human world gets boring very easily."

"So… you're a pharmacist then?" he repeated slowly. "Wow, that certainly has to be exciting compared to your former life as a scientist, right?"

And yet with more sarcasm.

But the man only seemed to laugh it aside. "Not entirely but the fun part is the people who drop by. You know, for every prescription you write a patient… who do you think they would have to go to, to have that prescription filled? And while we're on the subject of it, who do you think handles all the medication you have to take for your low blood pressure?"

He thought he felt just a bit of color drain from his face at the answer. "You actually thought that through?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. I'll just let you choose which one is true and see if you can handle the answer." Szayel replied before he went back to his jacket as his phone went off. "You'll have to excuse me for a moment, I think it would be best that I took this call."

Well, as if this day hadn't been bad enough from the start it quickly rolled itself into something worse and sprinkled itself with hate.

"What? Okay… I think you need to calm down, Grimmjow and hand the phone to someone else. Is Ulquiorra there? …What do you mean no? Isn't he supposed to be watching you? …Hang on, what do you mean he's not breathing? Who isn't- … Okay, give me a minute here." he put his cellphone aside for a moment and turned back to him. "What would you say is the typical arrival time for one of your ambulances?"

"Uh… I don't know, maybe ten minutes." Ishida answered; not entirely sure how he felt about that answer.

The man seemed to think it over for a moment, doing calculations in his head before he returned to the call. "Forget about it, just toss him in with the other bodies and I'll deal with it tomorrow …I said I'll deal with it tomorrow, I think you two can handle finishing off the job for now… Jeez, why the hell do you think we keep you two around anyways? And while I'm on it, where the hell is everyone else? … Well tell Aaroniero he has to stay away from Loly at least a few hours in advance and try to figure out where the hell Ulquiorra went, he's the only other person I can trust to stay around you two… What? No, this isn't about whether or not I trust you, it's just that I don't trust you." a long sigh escaped him for a moment. "Grimmjow, tell Nnoitra I will deal with this tomorrow and that there is no use for that kind of language when I'm talking to someone else."

"You know what, I'm just going to leave now."

* * *

The sound of her cell phone going off was, at this point, ranked number one on her list of worse things to hear. She didn't want to talk to anyone and she sure as hell didn't want to know who was on the other line; all she wanted was some peace and quiet. Was that really too much to ask for?

The constant, nonstop echo of her phone however said that the person on the other line was persistent as hell. Also they didn't care about how she felt, they just wanted her to answer.

She let out a long groan and rolled over just enough to grab the cellular device from somewhere beneath the blankets- severely tempted to just throw it against the wall. Instead, she flipped it open and decided to give the caller at least some kind of chance at a conversation; one word though and it was all over. "What do you want?"

"Tsk, what do I want? Well now, what I want cannot be specifically brought to me right now but we'll just have to wait on that for awhile, won't we? But I called about your date, so you better sit down and tell me all the details in it."

Fuck. Fuck fuckfuckfuck.

An even louder groan escaped her as she pushed herself up to be somewhat supported by the pillows beneath her; taking note of the white feline that was sprawled out next to her, as though in an attempt to mock her- stupid cat. "Yeah well, it was nice and all until we broke up."

"And by 'broke up' you better mean someone had to pull you two apart from the backseat of his car."

"No, Nell, I mean that it's over… for now." Cirucci answered; instantly hating herself for adding in those last two words.

"Well… what happened?"

"Oh you know, the usual. We got in an argument, it escalated too quickly to a place we shouldn't have even touched, things were said that can't be brought back and I cried like a little bitch when he wasn't looking." she replied. "All while in the middle of this Heaven-like restaurant; I'm surprised no one turned around to us- although I probably would've been tempted to stab their trachea out if they had."

"Ouch."

"Tell me about it." she muttered as she slowly twirled her fingers around a single lock of hair.

"Well all I have to say is that Nnoitra and I have been together this long, with little to no serious incidents if you look over that one 911 call; so to be honest, I can't really see how you're having a problem with this."

A soft roll of her eyes followed the woman's remark but she kept her comments to herself. "Well, you know what they say, sometimes there just isn't someone out there for you; I think I'll have a better chance growing old as some kind of crazy cat woman."

"That won't do." Nell remarked. "I think you should go get him back."

"And I think you should go ahead and have that baby already but oh, it looks like that won't be happening any time soon." Cirucci countered. "You know what, I'm perfectly capable of dealing with this by myself or not dealing with it, my choice."

"Yeah I get that part, let's face it, do you want me to come over or not?"

"… Yeah, I'll leave the door unlocked."

"Alright, I'll be over as soon as I can get myself off this damn couch."

She chuckled lightly before closing the phone in hand; letting it slip back onto the bed and just barely miss bouncing off the cat. Part of her felt kind of numb and the other half just didn't want to deal with it right now; she could just push it off and deal with it tomorrow, right? Or never, that seemed like a viable answer too. "Always gotta make a mess of things, don't we?" she muttered to herself as she rubbed at the space between her eyes. She glanced up for a moment as a knock echoed from her door but chose to ignore it for now; a second knock tested her patience. "Go away."

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure I had your 'permission' to."

Fuck him and his stupid sarcasm.

A second later, he simply pushed the door open despite her objection to it. "Seriously though, I just thought I'd donate my time and see how you were doing. Looks like you had a bad date or else you wouldn't have been lying in your bed alone."

"This is really more of a female issue right now and I don't think I want to deal with your charity."

"And I don't think it's a good idea to be laying in bed with that dress on. Do you think I would let you drag me to all those stores just to see you wrinkle it up like that?"

She groaned and moved her fingers to rub at her temples now. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Actually I do but I don't really feel like dealing with it right now; I'd much rather spend the rest of the night ruining what remains of your evening instead." he remarked as he leaned in against the doorframe. "You know, I didn't think you were serious when you said you were dating that Quincy freak. It was really quite lovely catching up on current events with him."

Ugh the bitter amount of sarcasm in his voice was going to make her sick. "Wait, wait, wait, did you talk to him?" Cirucci questioned. "Because I didn't exactly tell him about the whole thing about us, you know, coming back and all. Or how many of us came back for that fact."

"Oh well then… I might've just made your job a bit easier."

"Szayel, I hope you go to hell one day."

"I've been there before, nothing too interesting about it; it's a nice place to go if you want to burn some time." he shrugged; watching as it only seemed to irritate the woman further. "I'll just go ahead and wait for Nell to get here; I gotta head out in a few minutes anyways."

"Do I even want to know where you're going?"

"Oh you know, just to handle some business." he answered. "If you get drunk tonight though, don't give the cat any alcohol, I think she might be pregnant but I'm not too sure."

"Well look at the people who raise her; she might as well be whores like us."

He only shook his head with a chuckle before he stepped out into the hallway; closing the door behind him. Heading back down the staircase, he moved through the entrance hallway before out the front door; watching as a pair of headlights rolled up into the driveway. Leaning against the front porch railing, he waited for the lights and engine to cut off and watched as the driver stepped out.

"Hey Nell, when are you going to have that baby of yours?" he called to her.

"I don't know, why don't you punch me and find out."

"That's messed up, Nell."


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Nothing really to put up here but I've had an author note for every other chapter so it would feel odd if there wasn't one here. **

Forcing herself off her bed, she carefully slipped out of the white evening gown and tossed it onto the first hanger in sight. She really didn't want to deal with it but it was still a nice dress and she could get a few more uses out of it- not to mention, it had made at least part of her evening fun. She worked herself out of the jewelry and make out before settling on her usual comfort clothes from the bottom draw of her dresser.

Sweatpants and a tank top it was.

"Cirucci! I know I said I would come over for comfort and everything but… you're gonna have to work yourself down to me first; I really don't trust myself on these stairs of yours."

"Yeah, I'm coming." she called back to the woman; allowing for a long sigh to escape her, she ruffled up her dark locks and headed out into the corridor. Shuffling her way down the staircase, she watched as the green-haired woman seemed to stifle a short yawn. "Interrupt your sleeping schedule?"

"What sleeping schedule?" Nell questioned with a playful snort. "Ever since this kid figured out where my kidneys were and how much fun they were to kick, I haven't slept at all."

"I heard that's the best part of pregnancy though." Cirucci remarked as she continued on through the entrance hallway and into the much more comforting living room. She pushed herself over the back of the couch and somehow managed to land successfully on the seat cushions; rolling herself onto her back to maximize her own comfort.

"I don't know, I was more partial to the throwing up, the mood swings and the part where I get to hit Nnoitra and he can't do anything about it." Nell replied; following after the purple-haired woman. She opted to walk around the couch instead and practically collapsed herself back into the cushions. "I tell ya, if you ever decide to have kids, take full advantage of the good privileges you get."

She chuckled lightly and folded her arms underneath her head. "No thanks, after hearing all those horror stories you told me and seeing all those medical programs, I am not looking to have kids any time soon or… ever really."

"Not all the changes are bad." Nell started; resting one hand on her rather round stomach, already able to feel the baby kicking back at her touch. "I mean, I've heard that the whole experience has made me a bit more… crude, I guess you could say; I think that might be why Nnoitra and I have been able to really connect lately."

"You guys still disgust me." Cirucci commented playfully. "I don't know what you see in that man."

"I could tell you a list of things but we're not here to talk about me or Nnoitra, are we?" Nell reminded. "I came over to get the dish on your date and to listen to all the gritty details of why I'm having to sit here on the couch with you; and why you're not exactly enjoying the rest of your evening out with him instead."

"Would it be horrible of me to say that I really don't want to talk about it?" she questioned before feeling the woman lightly smack the top of her head. "Okay, okay well… the first half was really nice. I mean, he picked me up and we drove out to the restaurant and pretended that we actually fit in there, you know. We just started casual conversations and he had this problem with keeping topics, I think he was nervous about the whole thing. And then… we got onto the topic of scars and I was making fun of him and just messing with him but… apparently that's a touchy subject. We got into a fight and I just didn't want to go through with it anymore so I left. I mean, he tried to apologize but I just wasn't in the mood to listen to him." a long groan left her as she moved her hands to cover her face for a brief second. "I overreacted; that was the stupidest thing I've ever done."

Nell hummed lightly as she reached over and patted her arm for a moment. "Hey, it happens. We all get into a situation that's turning bad and instead of thinking rationally, we overreact instead. Mistakes happen and we end up acting like bitches to the people we love. I think the important thing here though… is how do you really feel about him? That could be the only thing to make or break this whole ordeal."

She felt herself frown at the woman's words as fingertips briefly touched at the scar against her sternum; the pale pink tissue had almost blended in completely with her flesh now. "I don't know…"

"I think that means you want to give it another chance."

"Why would you say that?" Cirucci questioned as she tilted her head back to look at the woman.

"Well, you wouldn't be second-guessing yourself if you wanted nothing to do with him, now would you?" Nell replied; watching as the woman seemed to frown again. "Look… I know this whole thing is odd and it's really confusing but you have to get a grip on the situation; you can't let it control you- that's how you lose."

"We joked around that this whole thing seemed to be moving by so quickly; that we just jumped into this thing blindly and didn't think twice about the consequences because… because we just wanted something from it. I don't know what we were looking to get out of it and I don't know if there was really anything on the other side of this." she started; unsure of where she was really going with it. "I think we just thought that we could pick up from where we left off and use that experience. Yeah, we've been together for a few weeks or so, but in the back of our minds it's been years. From the moment we first met to now, it's just been about the two of us…" she paused for a moment to gather her thoughts as fingertips continued to touch at the scar. "I don't know how this happened. I told him he was the one who didn't even have the guts to kill me; that he was the one who left me for dead because… I don't know why he did it, he just did. There was all this pent up anger but the more and more we were forced to communicate with one another, the more I realized… maybe I could redirect those feelings. Maybe I could turn that hatred into something more useable against him. Ha, listen to me, I sound mentally insane."

"Well now, look at who you're rooming with." Nell reminded. "Then again, look who I'm living with. I think this whole… 'resurrection' type deal made us all insane."

"I think it changed us." Cirucci remarked as she slowly pushed herself up and leaned back against the cushions. "In these new bodies, we don't have to live off the hatred that made us heartless in the first place… I don't think we know how to live without hate though."

* * *

The one of many enemies he still had to this day continued to ring itself across the table; the cell phone seemed determined to completely ruin his night- even more than it already had been. As much as he'd rather just… throw it away, he couldn't risk missing a call from the hospital. Reluctantly, he pulled it from the table and slowly flipped it open.

"What is it now?"

"Well that wasn't the kind of greeting I was looking forward to, but I suppose it's just as good… anyways, guess who managed to successfully pull off a triple date?"

It took a moment for him to recognize the voice and when he did… he regretted it. "Tatsuki… you still remember that?"

A light click of her tongue echoed from the other side. "When have I ever given up on a challenge? Don't mistaken me for weak prey here, I've got a lot of experience under my belt. Anyways, when are you two free so I can send out a date and time to the others?"

"Uh well… there's going to be a lot of free time because… we broke up."

He could already hear the fireworks going off in her head.

The elongated pause on the other end drove the previous statement as the woman seemed to be taking a moment to repeat his words. "Wait… so you're telling me that after all that hard work and persuading I had to do… you two decided now was the perfect time to break up? You've only been dating for what? A couple of weeks?"

Weeks? It felt longer than that, like maybe decades.

"Look, you can still just go out on a double date if you want; we just won't be accompanying you." he started.

"No, it won't be the same and… we were all just surprised that, with that busy schedule of yours, you actually managed to land a date; hell, half the time we can't even get in touch with you."

That was because he was purposely avoiding half of them. "Look, things happened and things just got out of hand… I just, I messed up but at least I'm willing to recognize that."

"What did you do?"

"You know what, it's a long story and to be frank, I would rather not go through it again." he quickly replied. "You'll have to excuse me though, I have an early shift in the morning and I still have a lot of things I have to go over tonight."

"Wait? You can't just-"

Her voice cut off when he closed the phone together and listened to the low beep that signaled it had disconnected the call. He hesitated for a moment, as though afraid she was going to call right back, before he set the phone aside once more. Well that went a bit… smoother than he expected, although it might not have if he hadn't hung up on her. Hell, he wasn't going to bother with it right now. There were other things to worry for.

He just had to tell himself to focus on those instead.

He just… he wanted to talk to her, that's it. He wanted to explain his reasoning, explain that that wasn't what he was trying to say- that wasn't what he wanted to say. Things just got tense and he cracked; pressure was normally something he was good against but with her… everything just seemed to get switched around and messed up. Thinking back to all those battles, hers was always the one that stuck out the most to him. He had always regarded himself as someone who couldn't disrespect a woman; he always felt the need to protect them and make sure some asshole didn't try to pull a cheap trick.

Unfortunately in that situation with her… he was the one who had been the asshole.

She was the one case.

He couldn't kill her because, out of respect, he refused to; she was ultimately defenseless anyways and to attack a defenseless woman… that was just out of the question. But that choice wasn't the right one either; he shouldn't have just walked away. Yeah, she ended up nearly severing his shoulder and those taunts of hers weren't exactly easy to ignore; the echo of her whip every time it cracked haunted him for months afterwards. Still, she deserved a better death than that.

She wasn't killed in the heat of battle, which is what her kind lived to do.

No… he let her die in humiliation. He made her suffer a fate far worse than death.

He couldn't even imagine what it would have been like in those last few moments; knowing she was going to die but not having the strength to do anything about it…

**X**

Seven.

He mentioned five names and then counting the other two, there were seven in total.

That couldn't be right, there shouldn't be this many at once.

Letting out a long, drawn out sigh, he looked down at the scattered notes around him; each paper had different theories and all sorts of names scribbled over them. It wouldn't make sense to any normal person but… these were just barely scratching the surface of what was going on through his mind.

Okay… okay so there were ten- no thirteen Espadas in total; ten recent and three of the Privarons.

So, out of thirteen… six of the names he knew were Espadas, one of the last ones had to have been a Fracción or just one of the Arrancars. But, if there were six mentioned… that meant there was a possibility of more- all thirteen of them could have came back.

Hell, Cirucci had mentioned names earlier that week or maybe even that month that he didn't recognize and for all he knew, they were part of the number thirteen.

The situation was only becoming increasingly irritating to him as he rubbed at one aching temple while he sorted through his mismatch of notes. How the hell did he manage to get so disorganized in this mess? It probably didn't help that the remaining half bottle of bourbon still sat on the table across from it; its dark caramel glass seemed to taunt him to finish off the rest of it. But he had to figure this out first… damnit, he had to figure out why the hell this was happening.

But he could barely focus on the other names and words scribbled down.

His eyes kept going back to her name and he kept thinking back to their argument.

Their fight.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

He didn't mean to make her cry again… he didn't even want it to happen, but it did. He couldn't get that out of his head. Where the hell did he fuck up? When the hell did it seem like a good idea to say those things to her?

_What the fuck is wrong with you, Ishida?_

* * *

Nell had left a few hours ago to tend to whatever it was that she needed to do; probably try to have that baby of hers. She was like a week or so overdue.

She supposed she should've been more responsible by herself; that she probably should've been able to handle her emotions better; that she should've been stronger than this.

It was a bad idea but fuck it, she deserved to get mindlessly drunk.

It'll be a killer hangover to deal with tomorrow.

But shit, she didn't even feel like holding a solid thought right now.

She felt stupid for getting this worked up over something that seemed so childish, but… not a single part of her wanted to forgive him for it. Not yet at least. It felt like she would have to wait a few days before she could determine if this was the breaking point or not. Yeah it was unfair, maybe she should've taken into account that a majority of it was on her too- it was more like a shared event.

For now though, she just wanted to forget that the whole evening had even happened.

_You're just a work of art, aren't you Cirucci? _


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Probably one of the more cliche kind of chapters/situations but I kind of liked the running of it for now. The scene itself feels kind of rushed, not sure why I think I might've typed it like that without actually thinking- then again I kind of wanted it portrayed like that as well. Difficult concept to grasp sometimes, especially when I'm not entirely sure what I want out of it. Anyway, enough ranting about what's already been typed.**

"Before you say anything, let me just say beforehand that I have been doing a little drinking tonight, so whatever you have to talk about may or may not come across to me in the correct manner. With that being said, anything I say in return can really not be held accountable or be held against me when I'm sober…whenever that may be."

For once in his life, he was actually glad to hear her voice on the other end. Or maybe he was just glad she actually answered instead of just tossing her phone aside like most of the other times. That could be because she was a little tipsy too though.

"I… I think I love you."

"… Sounds like I'm not the only one who's been drinking tonight." she remarked quietly as the sound of a glass bottle clinking around echoed in the background.

"Yeah well, it's not like I could have said that sober." he commented with a light chuckle. "I stopped drinking for awhile so I wouldn't say anything stupid if you answered."

"You did say something stupid Quincy but… I can't really say much myself because I… I… ditto what you said earlier."

"And here I was expecting you to say something fairly violent." he started.

"Oh don't bet too far right now." she interrupted. "I still plan on saying something but it'll probably be when I'm sober and when I'm there in person; there's more of a connection then and I think it would work better when I can show some terrifying presence."

"Well I guess that's something to look forward to." he replied.

"You know what, forget it, I'm going to replace saying something stupid with doing something stupid." she spoke as a rash of noises followed her in the background.

"What are you doing?" he questioned.

"I just… I can't say it so… I'm going to show you instead." she answered. "As soon as I find my car keys anyways."

"What? No, don't do that, you know how dangerous that would be." he objected. "I mean, what if you get into a car wreck and I have to be called in? I am in no condition to try and do an emergency surgery at this hour."

"Yeah well people do stupid stuff and they get killed for doing stupid stuff but for this… it's worth it if it happens."

"Don't say that."

"You could say it and I couldn't, okay? There's one thing that I can't say and for now, it's going to be the only thing I can't say. You're not the one who can control that."

"Cirucci…"

"Goodnight Quincy."

* * *

She was kidding.

She had to have been kidding.

In the name of some form of religious figure, she had to have just been joking with him.

He didn't care if she didn't say that she loved him back, to be honest he wasn't even expecting her to say it back but he didn't want her to do anything because of it. Maybe the obscene amount of alcohol in his system was making him near panicking over it but… he couldn't let her do that. He should've tried harder to talk her down from it, even if it would make things awkward in the office tomorrow; he would've much rather deal with that than the possibility of her getting in some kind of accident or getting herself killed.

Hell she could probably be in some kind of mangled, horrible mess of twisted metal right now on the side of the road at three in the morning.

Oh shit, now he had that mental image in his head.

It felt like a cold wave of relief washed over him at the sound of someone knocking at his front door. Wait, what if it was one of the night nurses coming by to tell him about the accident? No, they would've called him about it. What if it was the ambulance- no, they didn't do that anyways. He was just getting himself worked up over it- Damn, he was going to give himself a heart attack one day. Yeah because the drinking with his low blood pressure wasn't bad enough.

He hesitated slightly at answering the door, as if touching the doorknob alone was going to send poison through his veins, but followed through with it anyways. No… it was just her on the other side, completely in one piece and unharmed.

"Oh… thank God." he whispered as he placed a hand on her for a moment, as if to see that she was real, before he pulled her into his chest. "Do you know how worried I was?"

"Not as worried as the people in the cars next to me." she chuckled lightly as she tucked herself into his arms. "I'll have you know though, I hit every red light here and had to run every single one of them."

"That's not funny."

"Hmmm, well then just laugh with me, Quincy."

He could feel her fingers curl into his chest for a moment as he carefully moved to close the front door behind her; listening to the door slide into the frame, he moved his fingers to the lock and secured it tightly. It just felt like, if they stayed in this house and never left, then things would work out and be okay again.

"Did I mention I hit your mailbox on the way in?"

"I'll just get another one."

"You might be able to salvage the first one; it's still stuck between the wheels."

He chuckled lightly and brought his lips to touch at her forehead. "No, that's quite alright, you can keep it."

She looked up enough to catch his lips against her own and hummed lightly when the motion caught him off-guard for the moment. "Great, it's exactly what I wanted." She brought her hands up to grace the curve of his jawline before she pulled him down to seal the space between them. It was a clash of different tastes as the touch of alcohol seemed to spoil their tongues and yet, she could still find him behind the mask of Bourbon. The life span of the embrace was short and yet, it gave a greater sense of life to the ones that followed afterwards. As much as she loved the long, oxygen-defying embraces, sometimes it was the shorter, messier ones that thrilled her most. It was the feel and touch of his lips against her own as they seemed to tug and tease her in the few short seconds the connection lasted; it was in the way he gradually moved from the center of her lips and carried himself to the corner.

She moved one hand to his chest as she used her body to force his own back across the room; fingers curled lightly in the soft material of his shirt and forced a hold on him. There were a few stumbles and the occasional running into an object, but his lips never once left her own; just as she held onto him, he found the soft flesh of her waist to hold in one hand. Maybe it wasn't her best decision to do but at this moment, there wasn't a single regret that passed her. Every bit of hatred for him from before melted away and sealed itself somewhere in the back of her mind- whether or not it would be revisited was unknown, but as of now, she couldn't care less about it. She felt their bodies collide into one another as the space of the room soon ended and the back of the couch dug into his lower spine. It felt like the perfect scenario. His body pinned between her own and piece of furniture; she was the one in control this time.

Their bodies were on the verge of entangling into one another as they found themselves slowly sliding down to the floor. Her body straddled his own as she pressed him back against the couch and sealed his lips against her own once more. One hand continued to cup his jawline as the other carefully worked to loosen the front of his shirt; fingertips more than eager to grasp at the shirt's zipper and lower it to reveal his pale flesh underneath. She felt him tangle his fingers in her thick locks as he seemed to follow her same motive; a shudder tore up her spine as she felt his warm hand press against her right leg and slowly make its way up her thigh till it disappeared underneath the material of her skirt. She had barely managed to slip into some more suitable clothing before she left but now she wasn't exactly aching over her choice of doing so.

This is exactly what she wanted.

The touch of his hands all over her body; she wanted to remember every spot and inch he made his own.

She didn't want to look in the mirror without seeing him.

She didn't want to touch herself without thinking of him.

His hand slid away from her locks and caught her jawline for a moment, as he seemed to savor their last embrace for a few more seconds before he used it as leverage to separate them. The kiss ended in pants for air as their deprived lungs seemed to cry out for oxygen.

"We can't do this." he gasped; the aftermath of their embrace burned in the depths of his lungs and raised his heartbeat threefold.

"No one's here to stop us." she started.

"I know… I just… I don't think it would be in our best interest, in the long run, if we allowed for this to continue."

She felt him eventually remove himself from under her skirt and relocate his hand to rest on her waist instead. "And why not?"

"It's just… you once said that I was the first decent guy you've dated in a long time and I didn't want to screw all of that up in one night." he started. She took note of the sudden flush across his face, which could've been from the immense amount of alcohol between them or him realizing just how stupid he sounded. "I almost lost you once today… I don't want to repeat that."

Her hands came up and cupped his jawline as she studied his face for a moment before she leaned down and touched his lips. "I think it's pretty obvious at this point, Quincy… I'm not leaving."

"You'll say that now." he remarked; enjoying just the touch and presence of her lips against him. "But wait till you're sober and you absolutely hate my guts."

A light chuckle left her as she brought him in for a two-second embrace. "Hmmm, which is why I'll make the most of it while I can."

"Cirucci-" he started before her lips cut him off.

She used her position to her advantage and tilted his head back just enough for her tongue to conquer his own. Her hands slid down from his jawline and tangled in the loose material of his shirt before she started to peel it off; fingertips brushed against his warm flesh and felt him shudder slightly at the physical contact. She felt his hands come up to match her hips and hesitate for a moment before they settled against her. His shirt was left to pool around the bend of his arm as she trailed her fingers back up to rest against his shoulders; she listened with interest as he groaned softly underneath her when she tightened her grip. Fingertips brushed against an odd strip of flesh, which only seemed to provoke another vocal response from him. She drew out their last breath for as long as she could last before she allowed them both to gasp freely once more. Lips found their way to the curve of his jawline and down the pulsing artery in his neck before she touched at the same area from before; feeling the roughness of the tissue against her tongue now.

"Cirucci…"

As much fun as she was having with him, she peeled away just long enough to press her lips into the corner of his. "Where's your bedroom, Quincy?"

His breath seemed to shudder against her at the question.

"Second room on the left."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: And to think, when I first typed up this chapter, I had convinced myself I would never reach this point. Not sure why but there was always that nagging feeling in the back of my head. Now, before anyone gets upset, what you think happened did not in fact happen. **

The morning sun came far too early as it spread its bright rays through the open window and danced them across the bedroom. As much as he would've liked to ignore it, the moment consciousness struck, it kept him awake and aware of the time. The alarm clock flashed that it was almost ten already; he was going to be late for work, damnit. But of course, most of last night still pounded painfully in his head as he was beginning to regret drinking so much; the minor hangover felt like it was preventing him from even making a move to get to work, or even to get out of bed.

"Murgh, ever think to invest in some blinds?"

The question came from the body partly buried in the thick covers and partly buried into his chest. He had failed to notice her before, for some odd reason, despite the fact she had practically draped herself over him. Her hair was a mess of tangles and curls but she managed to push them back so they swept across her shoulder-blades instead. One hand was partly curled into the curve of his neck as she turned herself just enough to try and avoid the sunlight that had already filled the room. He took note of his own touch on her lower back and carefully pulled it away.

"Why are you- never mind, answered that myself." he started.

Another groan left her lips as she managed to wiggle herself loose just enough to stretch out her arms before she dangled them back over his body. "Yeah, I answered the same thing about an hour ago."

"We're already late for work."

"You just woke up next to me with very little recollection of last night and that's the first thing you say?" she spoke with a soft, drifting chuckle. "But… we are already late and people might be getting suspicious about that."

"That's what I'm not looking forward to." he replied as he brought himself to slowly push away the straying purple strands that remained in her face and tucked them behind one ear. "I just figured I could go in first, say it was a rough night and then you just come in an hour later."

"I'll tell them I had to identify my housemate's dead body at the police station." she offered. "That's a liable reason, right?"

"You might want to keep thinking on it." he chuckled lightly as he started to push himself up. "I really need to head into work right now though…"

She hummed lightly as she reached up and ran her fingertips along the curve of his jaw; coaxing him back to her. "You should probably get to those patients before someone else does or at least before the hospital starts calling you; if they do that, I'll be tempted to yell something inappropriate in the background for them to hear."

"That's a good enough reason to start getting ready now."

She somehow managed to roll herself off of him and watched as he forced himself out of bed; his shirt from last night just barely hung on to his slender frame, and seemed to showcase all the different marks she had left on his neck. Stretching once more, she moved into his previous spot and buried herself into mix-match of pillows. "I don't have to be in for another hour, so I'm just going to chill out here."

"Suit yourself."

"If I could 'suit myself', neither one of us would be going in today." she teased.

* * *

"You're not normally this late."

"Albert, if I could tell you about half the things that happened last night… I still wouldn't." Ishida replied as he pushed aside his office door. "Did anything happen in my absence?"

"Hmmm… no, not really. Milianne and I have been playing Poker in the nurse's quarters." Albert shrugged. "Most of the patients have been taken care of and for the most part, seems like it's going to be a slow day. Nothing was on schedule for today, so I'm assuming that everything's been covered for now- but who knows, it's a hospital and someone could up and die at any moment."

"That's one way of looking at it."

"It's about fine time you decided to show up." Milianne started as she passed by but stopped in for a quick remark.

"Believe me, Millie, I know." he sighed. "It's not like I planned for this to happen."

She seemed to be in the midst of making a comment but decided against it. "You look a little pale this morning, are you feeling okay?"

Aside from the slight, but waning hangover, yeah. "Uh, yeah, I just forgot to take my medication last night."

"Yeah, that would do it." Milianne nodded. "But, from what I can tell, today won't be too strenuous, so you're welcomed to pass out in your office if you want."

"That only happened once."

"You know, Cirucci's not here either." Albert started.

"Thanks Albert, I'll be sure to make a note of that later." Ishida commented. "Although knowing her-"

"Hey did you hear they finally caught that shooter from a few months back? I think it's kind of a shame; I was wondering if that guy would take commissions because my housemate has been getting on my nerves a lot lately." Cirucci remarked as she managed to squeeze herself into the conversation. "Also, the parking out front sucks, can we get someone to fix that?"

"That's not funny, Cirucci."

"I know, I had to park out in the back and I'm pretty sure an ambulance is going to hit my car." she replied.

"Well, to be honest, there are a lot of people in this world that I'm sure a lot of us would want to get rid of." Albert shrugged. "Like the guy at the downtown shops who insists on leaving out shopping carts for me to hit."

"Or the paper boy who constantly throws the paper into my birdbath. Or maybe the blonde-haired nurses who can't seem to do their jobs correctly when told the first time." Milianne added.

"Not cool."

"Last time I checked, I didn't offer to host a little office party in here." Ishida started. "You're more than welcomed to continue this discussion elsewhere but I'd like to get caught up on some of my work here."

"Well I guess we can continue on with poker game number thirty-three." Albert remarked.

"And your thirty-one game losing streak." Milianne reminded.

Ishida watched as the two eventually managed to migrate their way back to wherever they were before. "Now I remember why I wasn't really looking forward to coming back in today."

"Yeah, I think I'd much rather spend all day lounging around in bed." Cirucci nodded before she walked over to where he was just now sitting down behind his desk. She welcomed herself to the corner of his desk and lightly propped her feet up on his chair. "There are plenty enough files on my desk to keep me busy all day but I think I'll just waste more time in here."

"I thought you were going to wait another hour before showing up?" he questioned.

"I was but then I got bored sitting in bed by myself, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to arrive a bit early." she shrugged. "There's no fun sitting in someone else's bed if the other person isn't there with you."

"I guess that's a liable excuse."

She chuckled lightly and leaned in towards him. "Yeah, not to mention I decided that it would take me a while to find a more appropriate skirt for today."

"And… why is that?" he questioned.

"Because, apparently somewhere between the making out and bed play…" she started before she carefully pulled up the hem of her skirt a few inches to reveal the start of a purple stain on her right thigh. "You left bruises."

He was really tempted to touch at the mark but decided against it. "What a coincidence because you did too." he replied as he pulled down the collar of his shirt for a moment to show the collection of marks she had admired that morning.

"Well, what can we say?" she teased.

"That you're crazy."

"Please, I don't think I've ever gotten this many bruises without going hips deep with someone."

"That's one way of putting it." he remarked.

"There are plenty of ways I could've phrased it, just be glad I chose that one." she commented before she carefully slid herself off the desk. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I should probably get back to those files before someone gets suspicious."

"That would probably be the best idea." he nodded; watching as she started to leave. "Cirucci… can I ask you something?"

"Depends."

For a moment, he caught himself wondering if he really wanted the answer to his question or not. But… after last night, it had been eating away at him and as far as he was concerned, now was the only chance he would get to solve it. "How many of you are there?"

She paused slightly and turned back to him with a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"How many… came back?"

He watched as she thought his question over for awhile before she walked back to him. Her hands rested against his desk as she leaned in towards him once more from the other side. "Why do you want to know?"

That look in her eyes seemed to flash back to her previous form. "I'm not sure."

She chuckled lightly and leaned in just enough to brush her lips against his own once more. "Counting myself, nineteen."

And just like that, she turned and walked away; allowing for the office door to close behind her.

Nineteen?


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Well I wish I had a legit reason for the long delay but that would just be me making excuses. Personally, I think it's because I wasn't prepared to take on such a long lasting story, but again it's just an excuse. Sorry for the delay and while I'm not too entirely happy with this chapter, I figured it was almost better than nothing. Almost. Hopefully I can get things picked up but I don't want to make any promises. So this may have to hold you guys over till I get things worked out. In my mind, it's going in two different directions and I would really like to work on which way I want. **

She was barely back at her desk to start on the stack of files in front of her before a woman approached her desk. She thought she looked familiar but decided not to press it. "Sorry for the mess, the men around here can't do their jobs; now, what can I help you with?"

"I'd like to speak to the doctor."

"Hm, do you have an appointment?" she questioned as she shoved aside the files to find some surface piece of her desk underneath it. "It's like trying to find the Holy Grail in all this mess, how the hell did this happen? We don't even have this many patients."

"Well he knows I would be here; we didn't exactly make it official."

"Sounds good to me." she shrugged; pushing aside more items before she managed to uncover her desk phone. "Here, I'll give him a call just to let you know you're coming." Leaning back against her desk, she typed in his office number and waited as the empty ring on the other end started to echo.

"Cirucci, how many times have I told you not to call me from the front desk phone?"

She playfully rolled her eyes at his answer. "Yeah, yeah, I have to be online just in case someone calls in an emergency; I know the drill. Look, there's a lady upfront who says she wants to speak to you; she said you would know her and that you should be expecting her."

"What do you mean? I'm not expecting anyone- …you know what, it might just be best to call security on that one."

"Why?"

A long, drawn-out sigh escaped from the other end and told her probably enough for her to figure out. "Uh well… Tatsuki called me last night about that whole triple date idea and… I told her we had broken up for the moment; she didn't take it too well."

"Ah well, that would be a problem, doctor; I'll see if I can't reschedule this appointment." she started; turning slightly so that the phone was masked between her ear and shoulder. "You owe me for this." she whispered before she put the phone back down on the receiver. "I'm sorry, it appears he's a little busy right now with work; something about a surgery in a few minutes with a cancer patient, whose life kind of depends on this operation. Anyways, if you still want to speak to him, I can reschedule you in sometime later on this week." she watched as the woman seemed to frown slightly at the news. "Wait a minute, you're uh… Tatsuki, from the outside lounge, right?"

The sudden recognition seemed to catch the woman off-guard for a moment before she tried to counter it with a quick grin. "Yeah, I'm actually kind of surprised you remembered me."

"Ah well, I'm not the best with names but I'm pretty good at remembering faces." she replied as she hooked her fingers underneath the edge of her desk. "What are you here for?"

The dark-haired woman only shook her head and brought her hands to her hips. "Oh just, you know, catching up on things."

Now was her chance. "Yeah, we did a lot of that last night. So how's that triple-date idea going? I remember you brought it up when we ran into each other and I thought it would be interesting to do; we're kind of moving into the next step of our relationship and I figured… now would be a good time to try and integrate our lives. I meet his friends; he meets mine. Just small steps for now, wouldn't want to scare him off." she chuckled lightly; watching as the woman seemed to go through different phrases of emotions from questioning to mild curiosity.

"Really? Because… we talked last night and he said you two were over."

"Oh that? Yeah, I apologize, it was just a… disagreement that was taken too seriously; we both overreacted but that's behind us now." Cirucci assured. "You know what, if you want to drop by later this week, we can compare dates and times and find a specific day for that idea of yours."

"Alright, sounds like a plan." Tatsuki nodded with a slight grin. "Now I just have to get back in touch with the other two and we'll be set."

"I can't wait." she chuckled as the two bid their goodbyes; she watched as the other woman left and waited a brief period of time before she picked the phone back up to dial in the same number. "You owe me so hard right now."

"I don't like how you phrased that."

"Yeah well, after tooth and nail, it seems as though the terms are good now… although you have to find a clearing in your schedule for that date thing; seems like it's going to be fun."

"Only with you there." he remarked.

"Oh don't worry, I'll make the whole thing ever so enjoyable."

"… You know, I don't like the sound of that either."

She only smiled to herself. "Get back to work, Quincy; I'll talk to you later."

* * *

He had already finished several rounds around the entire hospital; gone over countless reports and even checked through some of the files to glance over medical histories just for the hell of it; looked over his own written assessments and reports that were due by the end of next week.

Milianne really wasn't kidding when she said nothing was going on.

Normally they had surgeries or appointments to attend to but… it just felt like a complete dead zone here. Okay… wrong choice of words but that's just how it felt like. He didn't exactly prepare himself for something like this; normally he liked to keep himself busy and focused on something, but now there was nothing.

And he hated just sitting in his office doing nothing.

There was nothing productive in doing that.

He guessed he could do another round around the hospital.

"Quincy…"

The light singing tone in the voice was the main thing that gave her away but he supposed at this point, there was really no need to be surprised by her. He slowly turned back towards her and watched as she seemed to send him yet another one of those mischievous grins of hers. "What is it, Cirucci?"

"My printer's out of ink and the replacement cartilages are too high for me to reach." she replied. "Can you get one for me?"

"There should be a stepladder in the supply room, can't you use that?"

"It's not in there. I think one of the custodians moved it."

There was this sense that she was just trying to lure him into something… but he couldn't exactly prove it right now so he might as well go along with it. "Alright, fine and I'll try to move a few of them down to a more… suitable area for you."

"You're a sweetheart."

With a light shake of his head, he followed distantly behind her as she took him back down the corridor and around the corner before she disappeared into the barely open supply room. Painted fingertips held the door open for him as he cautiously moved around her before he started towards the cabinet he had stored the replacement cartilages in; stopping only when he heard the subtle click of the door closing. "You know, sometimes I think I just let myself fall into situations like this."

"I kind of thought you were just romantically stupid enough to do it." she shrugged as she pushed herself from the door and seemingly strolled her way over to him; her arms lightly draping themselves over the back of his neck. "I figured we needed some alone time with everything running so slowly, plus you owe me for that little stunt earlier."

"I knew you weren't going to keep that favor for long." he remarked. "But seriously, you're going to ruin my professional credentials with this kind of behavior."

"Oh please, like they don't already know." she reminded. "Besides you have nurses on active duty too busy playing Poker to even notice."

She had her favorite way of pressing her body up against his own to enlighten her teasing actions; there was always that familiar rush of heat at the motion that was impossible to subdue. "While you make a point, I'm still going to have to draw the line."

"I guess at this point I should be used to you not being any fun." she humored lightly. "Still though, I wish you would loosen up a little bit."

"Maybe if you didn't enjoy jumping me during working hours." he reminded. "Besides… I thought last night would've been enough to hold you over."

She chuckled softly at his words. "Please, my sex drive lasts longer than my metabolism and I count it as being more important. But, if you're insinuating that we should move this to after working hours, then I would have no complaints."

"No, that's quite alright, I'm sure I have plenty of things to do after work that don't include a second person."

"So do I but that doesn't mean I wouldn't want some help with it-"

"… That's not even… I don't even want to know." he quickly interrupted. "Why do you always pull this on me?"

"Because I enjoy seeing you get all flustered over it." she grinned before she let her arms slide away so her hands rested on his shoulders instead. "You know, some guys like that."

"What? Guys like your roommate?"

Ahh, there it was. She had been waiting for him to bring it up and she knew it was going to happen sooner than later. "Please, the closest we get to 'talking dirty' is how we're going to hide the other's body when we're through killing each other. Or talking about our different methods of killing one another. Take it from me… there's nothing left of us now."

"You mean there was something to start with?"

"You jealous?"

"What? No, I just-" he started; finding himself getting quickly flustered at the answer. "I just wish there had been some kind of warning ahead of time."

"Oh, well that would've ruined the whole surprise." she shrugged. "You see, Quincy, the difference is that… I didn't think it would be such a big deal. So what if we managed to be here together? So what if we live together just to do it? I didn't think much in on it but to you… this must be like the end of the world of some sort."

"Yeah… yeah something like that."


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: I'm finally putting things together now so hopefully I won't have to keep getting these kind of 'filler' chapters that really have little to do with anything. But at this point, if I get an idea I just go with it and see where it takes. **

While he would've much rather returned home on his own and by himself… she seemed to think differently; she also managed to convince him otherwise of it as well. How that was entirely possible, he wasn't sure. Then again, she always had a way of working her charm and somehow managing to change his mind without him being completely aware of it.

But… he supposed the extra weight against his chest wasn't too terribly bad.

The dim light from the living room lamp was the only source of luminosity in the entire house; even then, it was placed on the far end of the room so the bare edges of light barely even reached them. Fingertips briefly touched at the leather bound book that had been laid to rest on the floor. He didn't even have time to read too much of it before she seemed all the more willing to invade his space. Now, he was going to speak from experience and say that the couch wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, but somehow she managed to make it suitable.

A light shift in her position said that she wasn't entirely asleep, in fact he figured she was just testing him; waiting for him to put his guard down. And after a rather boring, eventless day as such… he was probably going to let it drop sooner or later, which was what she was probably looking for. Unfortunately.

A soft groan left her for a moment before she stretched her arms around him and partly buried her head into his chest once more; her legs crossed upwards during the motion before they laid back still over his own. "Tell me Quincy, does your kind ever sleep?"

"Not entirely but then again I'm a doctor too, so that just automatically cancels out sleep." he remarked; watching as she pushed herself away for a moment to give into another back-curving stretch. This one seemed to tug at the neckline of her blouse, which he made sure to pull back closed while she was momentarily incapacitated.

"Always about modesty." she remarked; resting back on her forearms so she could maintain some sense of leverage over him. "And never about fun."

"Well, when it comes down to it, you have to choose one or the other."

A light grin caught the corner of her lips as she merely shook her head before she looked around at the rather darkly lit room. She was fairly positive that when they first laid down on the couch, there was still a lining of light outside; she must've lost track of time. "That nap must've been a lot longer than I thought… what time is it?"

Hell if he knew.

He glanced at his watch for a moment to try and depict the time even through the darkness. "Best guess is… maybe eleven?"

"Hmm… well I probably should've headed home about two hours ago." she mused as fingertips lightly played with her lower lip. "But… maybe I'll just stay here for the night."

"You're just going to invite yourself? Just like that?"

"Well, I don't see you complaining."

Okay, touché. For a moment, he really didn't have any- despite his usual run of the mill suspicions about her still. Hands moved to lightly tease the heavy curls in her hair before he pushed them from her face; lightly cupping her jaw line in the process. "On one condition."

There was that devilish spark in her eye that warned him he had phrased that incorrectly and she was going to take as much of an advantage with it as she could. The light bite of her lower lip only pushed that amusement further.

"Do enlighten me."

This was his chance.

"Were you serious before when you said nineteen?"

She took a moment to catch on and assumed that the sense of… almost rigid determination meant that he was serious. And as much as she had been wishing to avoid the topic, there didn't seem to be much of a choice in the matter. A playful sigh left her with a gentle roll of the eyes before she pushed herself back once more; this time leaning back so that she rested against his waist. "No."

He wasn't sure if he should've been disappointed or relieved at the simple answer. "Then why did you tell me that?"

"To freak you out."

"That's not funny."

Despite him, a light chuckle escaped her as she reached up and ran a hand through her loose curls; pulling them back from her face for a moment. "Okay, so that wasn't entirely true. I told you nineteen but… in all honesty, I don't know. I don't know specific numbers or even specific names; I could name a few off the top of my head but that's because I've seen them. I can't account for the ones I haven't encountered. So yeah, nineteen isn't true; there could be less or there could be more. Who knows. I just want to live out this life without having to worry for them anymore."

"Well, that must be hard in some instances…"

"Ha… yeah well, it's impossible for me to avoid Szayel anymore; sometimes it seems like we're conjoined at the hip but not in a romantic type way. It's more of a 'surgically-forced-to-be-together' kind of thing. I'm still waiting for that experiment to eventually die but I think I'll have to murder him to get the ending results." she shrugged easily. "Why? You jealous?"

"What? No."

"You really are."

"I am not."

His quick and outright denial only pleased her further as she brought her hands to rest lightly against his chest. "Just don't worry about it, it's not like we're all going to decide to come back and gang up on you or something. We're still trying to adjust to this… 'normal' and 'quiet' lifestyle; a lot of us haven't had to experience something like this for hundreds of years it seems and even then, that life didn't end all too well for us. But, we're here now, whether we like it or not and we're going to have to deal with it. Unless someone just decides they want to royally screw up our lives."

"I think you'll be fine; as far as I'm aware of, I'm the only one who knows about this whole 'ordeal' so it should stay that way."

"Aww, so you won't be introducing me to your cute Shinigami friends?" she teased.

"I would hardly use the word 'Shinigami' and 'friends' in the same sentence."

Another chuckle escaped her as she busied herself with the light folding on his shirt. "Well… to be honest, I have been thinking about them lately. Not that I'm really worried for it, it's really just a stupid topic we enjoy discussing now and again but… do you think the Shinigamis would really catch on? I mean, I'm pretty sure after what we did our souls weren't supposed to be returned back to the human world; in fact I was kind of thinking they were supposed to go into a ditch in the ground for safe keeping. I know, it's stupid but it's just… I don't know, I always wondered if they would come back and try to correct that mistake."

The abrupt change in her tone was enough to almost blindside him as he tried to find some kind of solution to her questions; trying to make sense of her words without… coming off too rash or impulsive. In all honesty, that same kind of thing had plagued him once or twice before. "If you want my sincere opinion, I believed they would be in position to pull off a suit like that. Now, it would be depending on who was set in charge of that or who would be pulling the reigns of it, maybe even who cared enough to push the subject but… it's possible. I wouldn't think they would go too far with it though. Maybe just send some kind of observation team and try to relocate you; just check in and see if you're causing any trouble."

"Would sexual harassment count?"

"You could try it out on them and see how far it goes." he replied with a semi-playful shrug.

"Hmm nah, I'll just stick to the easy ones."

"What's the supposed to mean?"

"You're the last of your kind; you're pretty much put in charge to bring your species back." she played; watching as his expression seemed to reflect the thought that he could've gone without her explanation. "And who knows, maybe I'll be all the more willing to help."

He frowned briefly at her remark but couldn't deny the rush of blood to his face. "We're not really a 'species' and I'm not the last of my kind either."

"Let me live in my daydream, okay?"

"I don't even want to know why you daydream about that."

She only shook her head before she pushed herself further back until she fell onto the other end of the couch; watching as he pushed himself up and eventually got back to his feet. Purple eyes surveyed him as he walked around the furniture piece and started towards some unknown destination in the dark. "Hey, if those Shinigamis do happen to come back, are you going to act in place of my knight in shining armor?"

"Why would I do that?" he questioned back to her as he somehow managed to find his way into the kitchen; even in the dark, he could navigate his way through the house fairly decently, even with his somewhat bad vision. "I figured you could handle yourself should some kind of situation like that arise."

"Hmm true, I guess I could work on my whip again; I've been putting off lessons for awhile now but this seems like an appropriate time to get it back out." she nodded; listening to the light clatter of dishes in the next room. Stifling a soft yawn, she pulled herself over the back of the couch and somewhat walked into the dimly lit kitchen. "You wanna be my partner?"

"I'd rather bungee jump 200 feet off a cliff and cut the cord."

"You know, a simple no would be sufficient."

"No, no I don't think it would be."

She leaned in against the open doorframe and watched as he moved around the kitchen to set up a new pot of tea; it was already late but she assumed he was bound to return back to the hospital in a few hours to catch up on things. Sometimes he seemed to enjoy running the midnight shift even when it wasn't necessary for him to be there. It must've been something in his mentality or he had just gotten so used to it, it no longer bothered him about which hours he had to go in at. "… So do you want to meet them?"

"Nah, I've had enough experience with Shinigamis to last me a lifetime." he answered. "As far as I'm concerned, I would be completely fine if I never saw another one again."

"I meant if you wanted to meet all the people that I know."

He tried to set his concentration aside as he fiddled with the stovetop settings before leaving the pot to do its thing. "Uh well… to be honest, I don't want to do that either."

"You want to go on another date then?"

"What does that have to do with our previous conversation?" he questioned; catching just the slight smirk on the corner of her lips. "… Just what are you planning?"

"Nothing. I'm completely innocent."


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Alright, so kicking myself into putting some serious thought into this story now. It's recently come to my attention that this story is nearing its one year birthday and... it's still not finished. How I let this happen, I'm not sure but somewhere along the way I made it complicated and put it out of my focus. Hopefully I can come back and readjust this. Thanks for the reviews. **

He had opted to go back in during the midnight shift and follow through to the next morning; changing out during the afternoon shift and then returning once more for the last half of the evening hours. It messed up his sleeping schedule a bit but he was used to that by now and it wasn't like he spent that much time sleeping anyways.

Most of the time spent was in his office as he finished off the newest requests for reports and set them aside for later review; giving himself some time to give a brief walkthrough around the hospital, which was normally part of his usual routine. Something seemed… odd this time though. There seemed to be more energy or some kind of presence around and he couldn't exactly tell where it was coming from. He tried not to concentrate on it but it was beginning to annoy him when he couldn't locate it despite multiple trips throughout the entire building.

"My, my, seems like it's been quite awhile since we've had this many people in here." Milianne remarked as she shuffled her way through a massive stack of folders in her arms; her disheveled locks proved that she had been in the building for much longer hours than he had and yet she still managed to carry herself on through the lingering shift. She somehow managed to seat herself behind her desk without spilling a single folder, however the transition of it to her desk was another story. "Well, living, non-injured groups anyways."

"I thought something seemed different." he replied soon after as he paused just briefly by her desk. "What kind of group is here anyways?"

"Oh, well, there was a delivery this morning so I'm assuming they're the family here to congratulate the new mother and welcome the newest member." she answered. "… Quite an interesting group of people needless to say, but I'm not here to judge."

He must've missed that memo. He had been there all morning but hadn't even heard a word or report about it; oh well, it's not like he dealt with the maternity ward anyways. The one instance he did, it was in an extreme emergency and he just told himself he wasn't going to do that again. "Well, good for them."

"There's been mixed reports about how cute it is; half and half."

"You know how it is, they can't all be cute."

"We are horrible people."

"Quincy!"

How many times had he told her before to stop calling him that in the witness of others? He was just about tired of having to explain it and pass it off as a nickname. Turning back at the voice, he watched as she seemed to merrily stroll her way down the corridor towards them; another woman accompanied her side with a large bouquet of flowers resided in her arms. He didn't want to observe the other woman for too long… something about her didn't seem to settle well with him and yet, piercing blue eyes seemed to cut easily through his own like a kill strike.

"Hey, eyes on me." Cirucci spoke as she quickly drew his attention back to her. "Having fun just walking around and wasting time?

"Yeah well at least it's semi-productive, unlike you probably just milling through your closet." he shrugged in response; catching the touch of a smirk on her lips. "I thought you were going to take the day off?"

"Well you know how much I love messing up your predictions." she commented. "Actually, a friend of mine just had her baby this morning and I'm here to harass her about it."

That must've been what the whole crowd was about, wait… if she knew the person with baby, then she probably knew the people who were already there visiting. Which meant- he didn't want to finish that thought actually. "Alright, well… you know where the maternity ward is. Don't get any ideas."

"But Tia and I were already discussing names and nursery themes." she playfully whined as her lower lip stuck out just a tiny bit.

"Tia?"

"Yeah, she's the blonde-haired, blue eyed stick you couldn't keep your eyes off earlier." she answered; watching as he made quick to defend himself only to stop at the last minute. He must've decided not to give in to her play this time around. About that same time, she felt the light pressure of a hit strike her between the shoulder-blades. She glanced a quick eye over her shoulder to the blonde-haired woman who only stared back at her with a brief tightness across the corner of her lips. "What? I don't understand what your problem is. Anyways, we both hitched a ride to drop by and see the new baby." she finished as she turned back to him. "Hopefully it doesn't look like its father."

"Logically, if you look at the genetics of it-" he started.

"You're beginning to sound like my housemate."

Of course she would interrupt him with that remark. "Well you'll only know when you get there, better get a start on it now." he remarked. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I think I have some appointments that are coming up soon. I guess I'll just have to see you later, unfortunately."

"Yeah, well I'm not to happy about seeing you later either." she teased. "Come on, Tia, let's go see how that baby is. And I guess how the mother is too. See you later, Quincy."

He watched as the two women passed on by and continued down the lingering corridor. He tried not to focus on anything in particular but… ugh, he was just going to blame it on the lack of sleep recently. Not to mention, there were plenty of other things to worry about right now; he had plenty of other patients that called for his attention.

"Well, that was an interesting woman." Milianne started.

"Nah, Cirucci's always like that."

"Actually I was referring to the blonde." she lightly corrected with a soft cock of her eyebrow.

Yeah… there was something odd yet interesting about her.

* * *

As it turned out, there were very few patients who actually called for his attention; most of them were easily taken care of by the nurses instead and we were on their way off his schedule. Which left him in his office, once more; giving him time to easily sort through his notes and send off the finished reports from before. He had told himself he would probably leave around nine or ten and yet somehow the clock was already striking twelve by the time he glanced up to it. He had stayed a lot longer than expected, in fact he had guessed he would've crashed out by now… but something was keeping him awake; something was keeping him clearly conscious and functioning.

He blamed it on the rush of things that needed to get done.

And yet, some far reach of him concluded that it wasn't work that was keeping him here; something about that woman and that group of people- he had yet to see them and yet they weren't settling very well with him just in thought. Which is why he made the concrete decision to not pursue who they were. It was easier if it all just remained a momentary mystery, after all they would be gone in a few hours anyways; in fact, they had probably already left by now. Nothing more to worry about.

He was halfway through flipping aside reports and notes when a light tap at his office door momentarily pulled his attention away from the work at hand. "It's unlocked." he called to whoever was on the other side, although most of the time people just welcomed themselves in regardless. He barely looked up from his work at the creak of the door opening and assumed it was probably just Milianne bringing in more requests for reports- although Gods knew what else was left to write a report on.

"I was surprised by your reaction before."

The foreign voice stilled him partly as the sentence he was in the midst of reading seemed to blur out of focus.

"I guess I had assumed someone such as yourself wouldn't have been bothered by a second glance; in fact, I can't really tell if you had done your homework or… were just merely acting on instinct. She was right when she said you're a difficult shell to break."

Even as much as he felt as though he would regret it… he slowly lifted his eyes from where they had been glued to the report in hand; turning up to look at the blonde-haired woman who stood only a few feet from him now. Those piercing eyes moved to absolutely drown everything in sight.

Cinnamon-toned skin almost seemed mismatched with her lighter strands and bright eyes. A simple, white jacket had been thrown over a pale-blue, tank-top of some sort; half-zipped to reveal a modest glance of her deep collarbones and the dip of her sternum. Her semi-wide hips were dressed with a slimming pair of jeans that fell along the long-distance of her legs and just lightly draped over a pair of black boots that were curved fairly gracefully into a rounded toe. Slender arms were crossed over her chest as a set of pale lips seemed to remain consistent in a brief frown- or maybe just in an emotionless expression that pulled out the stoic composure that suited her all too well.

He hadn't caught on to her before but now… everything seemed to fall together.

While he had never seen her before personally, there had been descriptions, pictures and even brief sketches of her overall look and identity.

She had been a difficult figure to overlook back then… and an even harder one to look away from.

"Tia Harribel…"

A slight tilt of her head seemed to signal that she had heard just the brief whisper of her name in identification. "So you remember me then? Well, actually that's not quite correct, is it?"

"We never actually encountered one another…" he started. "I don't even think we caught a glimpse. I only know you from what I've heard."

"And the same would go for you… although I wouldn't exactly count Cirucci as a reliable source of information; she's not the best informant when she seems to have 'other interest' in her targets. I will give her credit for being able to describe you perfectly though, however there were details I could've gone without."

He made a mental note to speak with Cirucci later and… exchange some choice words with her. There was a brief moment of awkward contact as neither of them seemed willing to push the conversation further; or had no idea of where to take it. "I don't know why you're here or how you managed to get here or why you're even speaking to me at this moment but… that information can stay with you."

"Not curious then?"

"Oh believe me… if there was anything more I want right now, it's answers to this whole thing. But, I don't think I want to risk it. Should there be 'certain' interest in this mess, should there be outside interest in this whole thing, I don't want to be the one with the loose tongue."


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Thanks for being patient with me for so long, it's been killing me that I haven't been able to put really any time or worth into this story when it had always been entertaining to me. Well, anyways, hopefully I can do it some justice now. **

"So we share suspicions then?"

"I guess unfortunately so." he slowly nodded with her words. He carefully gathered the reports in front of him and stacked them elsewhere to remove them from his focus. "… I don't actually think those suspicions will go anywhere, I hope they don't…"

"Are scared for her?" Harribel questioned; studying the slightly changing features of his face as his expression remained fairly intact; almost mimicking her own stoic outlook on the conversation.

He would've normally said 'scared' was a strong word to use and at this moment, it was. It still felt as though there wasn't much to them in this short period of time and yet… the thought of her suddenly gone one day was almost frightening. It was just a generic fear for now but it had the potential to escalate into an outright phobia of the sorts. "It's almost a stretch to say any kind of involvement would come from the other dimensions but I can't bring myself to cut out that possibility. I think I'll end up driving myself insane over it though."

"Believe me, we've all been there." she remarked. "We'd like to think we could live this life normally but in all reality, we can't; we shouldn't."

"… Do you even know why you're here? How you got here?"

It was curiosity that drove him to ask; that drove him to possibly push this conversation to suicide. But there was a need to know what was going on. He wanted that answer but if she didn't know it, then he could live on without it. At that moment, he almost regretted asking it because it felt like it was more for a selfish need for that response.

Those blue eyes narrowed lightly but seemed to push on the expression of genuine understanding; he had expected her to almost answer in brief agitation. After all, Cirucci passed on that they weren't aware of it and further questions always seemed to lightly push at her nerves, although she tried to pass it off with a playful tone.

"You can only stand so much torturing in Hell before you find a way to get loose; before you find a way to escape it."

He was pretty certain he didn't even try to avoid the slight expression of shock that might've crossed him.

"… You would be surprised at what that place can do to you and the people who got dragged down with you. We had been bred to hate our own kind and yet… when it came down that only the strongest would survive those elongated slaughtering sessions… it changed us. It was fear that drove us to protect one another; it was that animalistic need to survive that drove us to find that escape. What little strip that reminded us of our old humanistic skin that remained… that's how we got here; that's how we reformatted ourselves. And when we got here, well some of us got lost and disorganized in this mess. Through the short time we've been here though, we've been able to reconnect all over the place. Some of us are in this very town, some of us are far from here and others are just towns away… It's easier to be separated as such and we don't forget about what happened down there. We can't forget what we went through to ensure not just our survival but everyone who was with us. We've changed, yes; we're not entirely who we used to be because we can't bring ourselves to hate anymore. We put up the façade of it but that burning hole that resided in our chests are gone. Maybe it's for the better, maybe for the worst."

He started to reply only to have the sudden rupture of his office door being kicked open interrupt him before he could even start.

"Tia, seriously. You have a man, leave mine alone." Cirucci remarked.

"We were merely exchanging words, Cirucci; although I'm sure you came in here to exchange something that's a bit more intimate." Harribel replied as she slowly turned to look back at the woman. "I thought you were with Nell anyways."

"I was and then she passed out on me and then I got kicked out of the nursery because apparently you're not supposed to go in there without a nurse; also if you're not one of the parents, that's also frowned upon." she started with a light shrug. "Overall, I think they might've got lucky with the kid. Yeah, he looks like Nnoitra but at least it's a son and not a daughter- that's what had me worried."

"You see, I was more worried about the whole reproduction thing overall."

"Okay true, that frightened me just the same."

He figured he had a brief clue about what she was talking about but he decided that he didn't really want to push it all that far. And it felt like it probably wasn't going to be a good idea to ask if they could remove themselves from his office…

"Although, in all honesty, the baby is kind of tempting." Cirucci started.

"Didn't I tell you not to get any ideas?" Ishida remarked.

"Yeah but come on, we could have kids far cuter looking than Nell's."

"I'll just leave you two to this discussion." Harribel started as a light chuckle escaped her before she moved towards the open doorway. "Do you want me to drive you back home? I have to speak to Szayel about a few things anyways."

"Nah, I think I'll just hang around here and get some extra hours in." Cirucci replied. "And I would warn you, for your own health, to just stay away from him; I think he was killing something in the basement this morning and I don't think he's slept in three days."

"Seems like he has everything under control then."

She watched as the woman eventually stepped out of view and disappeared somewhere down along the corridor; her dark eyes narrowed for a moment before she turned back towards him. "You know, sometimes I can't tell if she's joking with me or not."

"Welcome to my life and everything I deal with."

A light roll of her eyes followed before she slowly walked over to him; watching as he moved his fingers to tend to the empty space between his eyes. She seated herself easily on the corner of his desk and continued to merely study him at the close distance. "… you look like shit, Quincy."

"Thanks, that was the look I was going for." he remarked in a sense of tired sarcasm.

"Come on, let me take you home."

"Uh no, because that would mean you'd have to drive my car and I don't think that's a good idea."

There was a playful click of her tongue as she eventually pushed herself back to her feet and stepped around to his chair. "Come on, grab your jacket and we'll go home."

"It's fine, honestly." he started, although the light tug on his arm was all that was needed to convince him to his feet. "Okay, fine, but just as a reminder… don't talk like we're 'living' together; that thought in itself is frightening."

"Please, I'm still frightened by the thought of Harribel and Szayel together in my house together."

"That's disturbing to think on."

"Oh, ew gross, no they're not like that. Ew." she cringed; watching as he pulled his jacket from the back of his chair and slipped into it. "If anything, he's probably going to fix her computer or something, maybe her car since it's a piece of shit. Besides, she's wrangled herself a Lone Wolf to satisfy her."

He tried to ignore that last bit of information that he could've clearly gone without. He glanced back at the semi-mess of reports that still lined across his desk but… he could easily come back and reorganize it later on that day. "Alright, let's go."

She lightly hooked her arm into the curve of his own as he passed her by and followed at his side; leaving the office behind them as they stepped out into open corridor outside. She noted that he didn't seem to bother himself with locking the door, she guessed he was planning on returning in a few hours anyways so it was essentially useless to do. The only noise in the hallway seemed to be coming from the click of her heels against the white tiles underneath as she pulled him along towards the front lobby.

"You two already heading out?" Milianne questioned as she was seated at her usual desk in the front.

"Yeah, unfortunately." he answered. "You've been here longer than I have though, why haven't you already left?"

"I'm waiting for blondie to get here." she replied. "And Lord knows that boy will spend his time flirting with the maternity nurses if I don't lay out what he's supposed to do today."

"Well, that's Albert for you."

"Unfortunately so. But you two go on ahead."

"Excellent, we're working on updating my medical record." Cirucci called back to the older woman. "Tell the maternity ward I'll see them in a few months."

Her words only registered after they were well out of the hospital and in the parking lot. "Wait… Cirucci, that's not funny."

"Too late now."

* * *

The soft buzz of the television in the next room barely drew her attention away from the faint heat of the ceramic mug in hand; she had made herself a small pot of tea but upon finishing it, found out that she really wasn't all too interested in it anymore. She had it set aside for later in case she changed her mind and for now, just enjoyed the brief sense of heat it brought to her hands. While she had gotten use to the sense of the house being oddly calm and disturbingly quiet, it always just felt like there was something more to it; like there was something that was left to be added to expand on its unique design.

But, then again, he didn't seem like much of a person for loud designs or expansions away from something he already found comfortable. After all, everything in here seemed as though it had been personally fitted for him. There was a wide variety of books that differed from one end of the literary spectrum to the next; he didn't seem to like too much lighting as only a few lamps resided here or there. Everything was set in precise locations and arranged in strict manners that seemed to showcase his need for organization and neatness; she would've almost assumed it border-lined an O.C.D. like trait but perhaps it was just merely how he worked through things- lord knows it reminded her a lot about how Szayel worked but she didn't plan on telling either of them that.

The low vibration of her phone went off in her pocket and signaled that someone seemed in need of her attention at the moment. Setting aside the fading cup, she quickly pulled it free and barely gave a glance to see who the caller was. "What do you want, Tia?"

"I thought I'd call and check in on where you're at." the woman answered from the other line. "I figured if you were still at the hospital, you could ask when Nell was planning on going back home; I thought I'd lend a hand and help around if she needed."

"Pft, I left the hospital as soon as I could before anyone could rope me into working." Cirucci chuckled lightly as she leaned back against the counter behind her. "I can give her a call later though; I know she snuck her phone in with her so it shouldn't be too difficult to get a hold of her."

"Do I even want to know where you're at right now?"

"I'm just chilling at the Quincy's place; it's not a crime, you know."

A faint chuckle seemed to follow her remark with ease. "I didn't want to be interrupting anything, that's all."

"Well, he is asleep upstairs, so he probably wouldn't even hear me or have time to defend himself…" she started as she messed around with a few small knick-knacks around the counter beside her; fingertips pulling a small necklace from where it had been placed inside a small decorative holding glass. A silver cross dangled freely and it didn't take long for her to recognize the unique design as belonging to his race. "I'll let him rest for another hour or so before I go get him." she continued as she carefully slipped the necklace into her blouse pocket.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: It's really kind of odd when I have the next few chapters planned out but if someone were to ask me where this is exactly going, I'm not entirely sure if I would have a clear answer to give. After an entire week of twelve-hour school days and pulling an accidental all-nighter, I'm surprised I can still hold a cohesive thought right now. **

There seemed to be a moment of stillness as he looked back and forth between the two nurses in front of him; taking sharp note that they both seemed to share the same expression of… well currently not wanting to be there or even wanting to address him at that moment. Which was odd seeing as it was normally just Albert who did that kind of thing; Milianne was normally fairly calm around him despite the worst of the worst. She's the only nurse he knew who could hold a straight face when saying a patient suffered a complete cardiac arrest in the middle of the night for a second time; even after corrective surgery that kept him in the operating room for eight hours straight.

That wasn't an easy feat to do on her part and he had admired her for that.

But now… now something else seemed to be going on.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Ishida slowly questioned as he kept one hand on his office door; he hadn't even had the chance to unlock it yet before the two managed to catch his attention. Of course now they looked more ready to full-fledge run instead.

"Yes… well no… well not directly." Albert started; stumbling his way through an answer. "You see… you got a message shortly after you left yesterday and we were just coming by to drop it off."

"Is handling a message too difficult for you now?" he remarked, almost bitterly sarcastic but also kind of wanting to see a truth in it. "Look, if you wrote down the message, then just give it to me or tell me it; I have a busy schedule today and I'm already an hour behind. I can't risk standing in the hallway just to get a simple answer from you."

Milianne cleared her throat momentarily before she nodded. "Apparently after a small voting session and a close tie, the hospital has been nominated to host a… small committee 'event' for the city council."

It seemed to take a few long minutes for the words to properly function before he could get a clear grasp on them. "What do you mean we're hosting an event here?"

"Uh well… you see we were going to call you about it earlier but then things happened and we got sidetracked." Albert started, as he seemed to tug at the sleeves of his pale-blue scrubs. "But we had one of the city council members call earlier and since you weren't here, I took a note. And they said that they were looking into hosting a city council 'event' here since the hospital was considered a 'spotlight' for the city and we have some of the highest stats and ratings in the country-"

Like he really believed in all of that business 'jargon.' He probably would've laughed at the sheer stupidity of it if it didn't piss him off first and foremost. "That's basically a way for them to bullshit around saying 'Hey, remember when we increased the hospital funding two years ago? We had to change the city budget for you and you got a few new ambulances and heart monitors out of it; you also got to remodel your intensive care unit- can't forget about that.' I'm guessing after every other place turned them down so quickly, they panicked and figured we didn't have much to argue against when it comes down to the gritty details." He remarked with a harsh sigh. "Who the hell passed off on this? They should've called me at the least; I know for certain that they have my number."

"… Well apparently the hospital director passed off on it…"

For the love of-

Why the hell didn't he see that one coming?

"That was basically why we didn't want to tell you." Albert added.

He tried to keep himself in check and merely shook his head. "Of course, that would explain everything. Well… since the city council went over me, there's pretty much nothing I can do. It's risky though. To just, block off part of the hospital and we're going to have to cut some people off shifts and run a smaller staff in the background. I hope he doesn't expect me to be out there mingling around."

"Well actually he did mention something about introducing you-" Milianne started.

"No."

The woman didn't seem all too surprised by the answer and merely nodded along with him. "… You know what, we're just going to let you handle this. You seem to know what you want."

"What are you guys talking about over here?"

A quiet groan escaped him as he looked up to see Cirucci walking her way towards them; a couple of files tucked in one arm while her heels clicked needlessly against the floor. Even with how much time they had been spending together and… how seemingly comfortable they were around each other now… he still preferred if she wasn't at such an event. It just seemed to call for disaster on both their parts- he was still freshly aware of what happened during their last attempt at something serious. Maybe it was just an overreaction though… he just really didn't want to go through something like that again; not after they had worked so hard to get back on the right level again. "Nothing, it's just… something I have to try and deal with right now."

She cocked her head lightly to one side as she approached the small group; already able to tell that something about it tugged at her curiosity. As well, she could already tell that he didn't seem willing to tell her about it just yet. Still though… there wasn't someone here who was going to tell her otherwise or stop her from asking about it. Except for him, of course. "Like?"

"The city wants to host a party here." Albert answered.

Even better than what she first imagined. "… What kind of party?"

The older woman seemed to give a brief chuckle and a light wave of her hand before fingers moved to tuck aside a loose strand of hair. "Oh, just one of those outrageous kind of things. One of those extravagant parties where the only thing that cost more than an intestinal transplant is the bottle of wine for the evening." Milianne remarked.

He took swift note of her ease of expression and that faint spark in her eyes; it only spelled out bad news. And probably bad news for everyone involved. "You better not-"

"I need to get a new dress." Cirucci interrupted with a quick smirk in his direction. "Wanna go shopping together Milianne?"

"Can't think of someone better to go with?" the woman chuckled.

"Well my other shopping lady just had a baby and I don't think she wants to see me slip into a size two dress right now." she replied. "In fact… I think I already have the perfect accessories to go with the evening. When exactly is this 'event' happening?"

"I think they said they'd call back by the end of the week and set up a date for the whole thing; which gives us plenty of time to panic and rush off into chaos." Albert answered. "I'll probably try to wear my nice scrubs when that happens so if a misfortune happens, I'll die looking good."

He could only shake his head once more at the ongoing chatter before he finished unlocking his office door and stepped inside; gladly closing it behind him to cut off the voices without so much as excusing himself from the conversation. Well… this was a complete perfect way to start the day. First this whole 'event' business and then finding out that the only reason it was passed because of the hospital director agreeing to it. That in itself seemed like a set up.

Only Ryuken himself would pass on it just to screw with him.

It was probably some kind of… test of some sort just to drive his patience. And right now, he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to pass or fail it. It was more tempting to try and size up the situation, somehow manage to turn it around but that called for a lot of effort and the man was probably expecting that from him already. He couldn't risk worrying about it right now though; there was still a schedule he had to keep and he was already behind on work. Maybe a little bit of solitude would help to ease his mind a bit and help him come back to the situation with a clean slate.

* * *

"You know it's rude for you to walk off when a lady's talking."

He barely glanced up at the remark as he continued his way down the corridor; flipping through paper after paper in hand as his eyes scanned for an important piece of detail that was necessary for his upcoming report. How exactly did the patient's stomach manage to rupture? A few broken blood vessels and minor swelling around the region hinted at a physical act but it could've been from some kind of fall or hit. Why were these notes so out of order? Who wrote them?

Pushing aside his office door with one shoulder, he continued on towards his desk with the hope to not run into anything along the way there. The sudden pressure of hands squeezing into his sides stopped him easily as he turned back towards the source- not that there was really a need to guess who it was. "What do you want?"

"I want a brand new dress to wear at this event, I want you to be my date and I want you to loosen up and try to have fun with the idea." Cirucci answered. "However, those wants are not limited to just those listed; there are plenty of other things to list off but then I would really miss out on all my hours for today."

He tried not to make a sarcastic remark back to her and only nodded in response. "Well… I'm sure you'll find a nice dress."

"Come on, Quincy… please?"

"No, I just… I don't like events like those and even if it's mandatory that I be there, I'll probably end up spending most of my time in my office; I'll probably bullshit a reason to."

She chuckled lightly at his response and moved her hands to lightly tangle in the open ends of his jacket; pulling him in closer to her. "That's fine. I can get that nice new dress and… we can both spend all night in here."


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: I would've loved to have had this updated on its one year mark but I was on the road without internet- which was disappointing and difficult to do. Still hard to imagine that it's one full year and it's still not done. Anyways, I want to thank everyone who's been here through it all and for all the reviews and favorites**

Fingertips moved to massage at the dull thundering behind his temples as the chair beneath him squeaked slightly when he leaned back in. Despite multiple phone calls out to the city council building and even calls to their personal numbers, it seemed like no one wanted to bother with speaking to him directly. All he got was secretaries all day who rattled off excuses about their absences, even when he knew for a fact that they were probably in their offices just watching the red light on the phones go on and off. He guessed it was naïve to think that they would have at least had the decency or maturity to speak with him directly, but he supposed they knew too well of his ill-feelings towards such… a showy event. And here of all places. It was problematic and risky but hell it had been done in the past, really once during his own internship here but even then he opted to skip out on it; now, he didn't have the luxury of doing so.

A soft knock at his office door was probably the last thing he wanted but he called them in anyways; it would probably be best if he had something to distract him from this mess.

"Hey, I just got a call from the City offices and they wanted me to pass on some details about that whole shindig-" Cirucci started as she pushed her way through the doorway; a small notebook in one hand with a list of things running down the middle and other such scribbled in the margins. She stopped in mid-sentence and watched as he removed his glasses to set aside before he covered his face with his hands. "Hmm, yeah something about that doesn't seem right."

"It's not like I've been trying to get in contact with them all day or anything." he remarked in a slight mutter; an edge of near bitterness in his tone.

"Well, out of the two of us, I am the prettier one so I can see why they'd want to speak to me first." she shrugged lightly as she used the pointed heel of her shoe to push the door back closed behind her. "Anyways, let me just rattle off this list real quick for you. But uh… well they settled on a date, they want the whole shindig to go down next Friday since apparently they don't think it's going to be all too crowded then; they want to use a few of the break rooms, which they'll clear out by Thursday and get everything set up- that way they won't be in the way and the hospital could still function if necessary. They've already hired caterers, a clean up crew and most of the technicians to get everything prepared, so that'll get all of that off your back. Uh… what else?" she glanced back down the list to see what else could have been missed; a lot of her scribbling was about pointless matters that she had written down in a haste of the man's words on the other line. "Also, they requested that you'd be there and you have to have a date; I tried to explain to them that you're kind of a solitaire figure but they insisted and even tried to persuade me into filling the position but I was just like-"

"Cirucci, please stop talking."

"You have to admit, that was pretty good."

He eventually moved his hands and pushed them through his hair before he slipped his glasses back on. "Did they make any kind of specifications of how long I had to attend this thing?"

"Well no, not really." she answered. "But they probably want you there for more than just 'walk in, walk back out' kind of deal."

"There goes my plan then."

A quiet sigh escaped her as she cleared the space between the two and took the corner of his desk as a seat once more. "I take it you're not one of those big, up and flashy kind of people right? These kind of events must just drive underneath your skin."

"Not as much as you do, but yeah something like it." he nodded.

"Come on, I'm trying to help here and you're being a butt to me."

He took note of the light frown that curved her purple lips; she was giving a good attempt at making light of the entire situation… he supposed he should give her credit for that much. "I know, it's just that this entire scenario has put me in a bad mood… the fact that they would go over me and go out of their way to avoid further contact from me… they just really don't want to fight this thing; they just want an easy decision without any conflict."

"Can you blame them? Given the chance, you'd probably murder them all in their sleep."

"I'm not going to confirm or deny the possibility of that response." Ishida started. "But it looks like we're stuck in it for the long run now… might as well pull together some kind of staff meeting and inform everyone of it- unfortunately."

"Good, then Milianne and I can cut work this weekend and go shopping for a dress."

"Do you really have to be there though?"

"I don't know whether to take that as an insult or, well actually that's just kind of insulting to be honest. Since when were you so upbeat on keeping me hidden?"

"That is not it, it's just… I don't know, I'm not entirely sure if I feel comfortable with you at such a public event like that."

"I think you're just oversensitive and I also think you don't want me there because you don't want people to see me get all dressed up and pretty; you're just going to be jealous."

He tried not to let himself laugh at her explanation and managed to hold a fairly decent, stoic expression- despite the difficulty in that matter. "You know what… let's just not fight about this… you just go out and get yourself a new dress."

She watched as he seemed to be withholding something from her and took note of the slightly strain he put on himself. "You're… you're fucking laughing, aren't you?"

"What? No, I just… you should probably leave before I completely lose it." he chuckled.

"I ought to kill you."

"It's nothing… you're very pretty, that's all."

She frowned once more before she pushed herself to her feet. "Oh, I'm going to make you regret that."

He probably should've guessed at some kind of credibility in her threat but… still there was some kind of humor to be found in it. He only nodded and watched as she turned on her heel and eventually left his office; shit, he was probably going to regret that later but for now… he could at least enjoy it while it lasted. In all honesty, he wasn't entirely sure why he didn't want her there… maybe a minor offset of paranoia but her reaction to it was near priceless.

"Oh fuck, Ishida…" he muttered quietly to himself as fingers moved to press against his aching temples once more. "She really is going to be the death of you."

* * *

"Are you sure you wanted me to come along?" Milianne questioned as she shuffled her way through the rows of finely designed dresses that ranged from long trains to simple cuts that she still would've had to brave her way through. The bright colors were of little interest to her as she tried to find something a bit more modest and not so flashy. "I'm not exactly going all out for this thing, in fact I'm really not even sure if I'm going to be on shift for the night or not."

"Oh don't worry for it, I always like a little company when I shop." Cirucci assured; finding herself more attracted to the long gowns that seemed to grace the floor even after being hung up along the walls. She slowly made her way down the large display as she tried to at first observe what style she wished, what kind of cuts she wanted, and then she could go with a color and find a dress that matched her wants as best it could. Maybe she was a little picky when it came down to finding the perfect dress but hell… she deserved to look her best. "I figured we both needed a new outfit and we both had the time off so why not?"

"I think our age gap might be a bit hindering but I guess a little outside opinion would be helpful." the woman eventually agreed as she pulled out an emerald-green dress from the racks to examine closer. "Our preferences for style are sure to be polar opposite as well."

"Believe me, my friend, Nell, and I had completely different dress styles and we were always arguing back and forth about them. She preferred the around the neck hold while I was about the off-the-shoulder look; she liked a lot of the low back cuts and I preferred front ones; she favored dull colors and I was much of a fan to the brighter ones. Polar opposites in all sorts of aspects, we had a difficult time shopping but it was always an honest opinion."

"That in itself is normally valued more than anything." Milianne chuckled as she pulled the dress from before free and draped it over one arm as she moved on to the next. "So… do you have a date for the dance?"

"Yeah but he doesn't want me there, which means I have to get a stellar dress and make him regret that choice in the first place." Cirucci answered before several more, brightly-adorned dresses that hung on a rack just to her left caught her attention. "I do intend on making him eat his words and… making a show of the event."

Another soft chuckle left the older woman as she pulled one more dress free and laced it over her arm, which was slowly becoming more and more crowded. "Well, you know how men can be under pressure, maybe it's just a sense of jealousy."

"See, I said that to him before and he just laughed." Cirucci muttered as fingers lightly pushed their way through the different rows of dressed before she landed on one that drew her attention freely. "What about you? Do you have a date for this thing?" she glanced over at the woman who was running through some of the racks just a few rows down from her; there seemed to be the hint of a grin on her face. "Ooh, does that mean yes?" she pressed.

Hands lightly tucked away a loose strand of hair and she merely shrugged back towards the younger woman. "I wouldn't really say 'date' but there is someone who asked me to accompany him- probably only because no one else would."

She chuckled to herself and pulled loose the new dress that seemed to beg to be tried on. "Well… I think Albert would make for a cute 'date.' I don't see anything wrong with it, you should get a dress that'll impress him."

"At this age? I don't have to impress anyone."

"But it's far more fun to do so."

"Is that how the younger generation works now?"

She shrugged back at the woman and turned to see where the closest dressing room was located. "I wouldn't say that's how all of us work but… when you have someone who's as stubborn as that date of mine… you have to make him nervous somehow."


	30. Chapter 30

Despite his best efforts to ignore the sudden rush of days that pushed him far too quickly towards the extravagant date at the end of the following week… it felt like it was a little more than a blink of the eye and here he was; trying to ignore the sound of the workers moving around in the corridors outside as they transformed the nurse's rooms into… whatever the hell they wanted. He would have to leave work in a few hours to get back and get ready for this waste of time, until then though he wanted to get several reports done and let the oncoming shift of nurses know about how things were going to be running alongside the event. Even despite their best efforts to avoid him, he did manage to get in contact with several of the council members and made it clearly known that he would be in the building but he wasn't, under any contract or agreement, supposed to be attending the 'party' for the entire hours. He would drop in now and again, maybe mingle with whoever they wanted but a majority of his time would still be tending to the patients- that was his job after all and he wasn't going to let them interfere with that. Although a brief overlook of the entire building showed everything and everyone in perfect condition and working order, in all honesty he didn't actually have to be in the building for them but… it was a foolproof excuse to use; not to mention if he chose to ditch out later on in the evening, he could do so and get away with it without questioning. Not to mention, it was heavily tempting to do so; just walk in and do a short meet and greet and then… slip out the back door and return when the whole thing was over.

"Quincy…"

The near singing tone with the name brought a slight chill down his back as he looked up from the mess of folders he had in hand; glancing over to where the purple-haired woman was propped against the open doorway of the supply room. He wasn't entirely sure why he was in here but it just felt like he needed to escape his office for a few minutes; plus he needed a few more pens and a couple of paper clips as well. "I don't want to know."

"I was just dropping by to let you know that I was going to go ahead and head out; I still need some time to get ready."

"We still have at least four hours before this thing starts." he reminded.

"Yeah and I'm pushing it with just four hours." Cirucci replied. "I mean, do you even know how much work I put into squeezing myself into that new dress and strapping on those new heels? I swear, sometimes I wonder if men really even know the extent us women put ourselves through to look good."

"Okay, okay, fine… just go; I'll be leaving in an hour or two anyways."

"Alright, but you better have gotten a nice suit."

"Leave me alone, Cirucci; I've still got work to do."

* * *

"Is this it?"

"What kind of question is that?"

The green-haired woman frowned for a brief moment before she seemed to shrug aside the remark. "In all honesty, it fits like a dress that only you would wear but… you make it look modest and classy in some kind of way."

Hands found their way to her hips as she looked back at the woman before she turned to the second woman who seemed to be freely lounging on her bed. "Harribel, make her leave if all she's going to do is insult me."

"Nell, play nice; she has a date with a doctor tonight."

"Oh please." Nell scoffed lightly as her own hands moved to her wider hips as though to mock her. "You know well that we always argue over dress styles; I'm just really not a big fan of the off-the-shoulder look but you carry well so I'll give you that. Although I wouldn't have guessed you would've chosen silver for such a color."

"Yeah well… I had some accessories picked out ahead of time that I wanted to match." Cirucci explained as she ran her hands down along the form of the dress. "It's close enough to being white so I think it'll match fine with my other colors. I haven't figured out anything to do with my hair just yet though… what do you guys think? Up or down?"

"If you're wearing a shoulder-less dress, I would advise an up style- especially if you're going to be pairing a neck accessory with it."

She glanced up at the voice from the hallway just outside and rolled her eyes. "You know, I guess I should have figured that you would've liked some say in this. Why don't you come in here and give me your opinion?"

"I count my time as being far too valuable for that."

"Yeah, fuck you too."

"No thanks."

Harribel chuckled lightly and pushed herself off the edge of the bed and to her feet. "Well, put it this way, I don't think there's going to be anyone else at that party who's going to be looking like you."

"She's just sucking up." Nell replied.

"Yeah well I appreciate the motion." Cirucci playfully snapped back as she pushed her way into the bathroom; she figured she could put enough fashion confidence in her housemate's words and go with the up-style- she did have a cute hairclip that would match after all. "Well, while I'm off at this little 'party', what are you guys going to be doing? Lying around and watching the game on TV?"

"I have a two week old baby at home, what do you think I'm going to be doing?"

"I was just planning on fooling around for most of the evening and probably lounge out by the pool when it gets dark- there's less people staring at me during that time." Harribel answered; running a brief hand through her messy blonde locks. "What about you, Szayel? You have any plans for tonight?"

"Yeah but I don't think I can necessarily say them out loud."

"He's probably going to go out and fuck some dumb bitch." Cirucci called out.

"Well what do you know, our evening's are going to be the same." he called back out to her from the corridor. "Actually now that you mention it, do you have any idea where my gloves are? They're not directly connected to this subject but they don't seem to be in their usual spot."

"Hmmmm no." she slowly answered; slipping in the silver earrings that brushed against her shoulders. She hated to admit it but with her hair pulled back, it definitely brought out the matching choker and earrings and certainly seemed to pull the entire outfit together wonderfully. Damn, she really hated it when he was right. "You planning on getting freaky with that girlfriend?"

"Actually I was in the mood to cut something open and I didn't want to get my hands dirty- oh well, sacrifices have to be made somehow."

"I love how you two talk so casually about this." Nell remarked.

"Well after so many months and years of living together, you kind of just numb your senses and bear with it; we're not even serious with each other half the time- in fact, we mostly talk in a permanent sarcastic tone with one another." Cirucci shrugged. "Isn't that right, Szayel?"

"I wasn't even aware you were talking."

"See?"

Harribel shook her head lightly before she glanced over to the clock hanging on the wall. "Well, if you want to get there in a timely manner, I'd suggest you leave now- that is, unless your boyfriend is going to be picking you up, in which case he should've been here by now."

"I'm driving myself since I was partly worried he'd work himself straight through the two hours he promised to use to get ready; knowing him, he's probably just throwing everything on right now." Cirucci remarked back before she moved to step out of the bathroom; switching the lights off behind her. "But, good thing you said that, I do plan on surprising him with something later on this evening and I should leave ahead of time to get things prepared."

The green-haired woman cocked an eyebrow at the statement and watched as the freshly-dressed female carefully gathered her things before she moved to leave. "And uh, just what exactly are you planning on doing with this 'doctor' of yours?"

"Like I would tell you." Cirucci teased as she eased the door open with the toe of her shoe and stepped out into the long corridor. "Hey, try to remember to feed the cat before you go off to wherever it is that you're planning on going; we don't want an incident like last time."

"Just go, we'll make sure everything gets handled." Harribel assured as she moved to push the woman onward; introducing herself out into the corridor. "I'll probably hang around for a bit longer until Starrk gets home."

"I'm about to head out but I'll let you go first." Nell replied, the last one to leave the small bedroom. "Now, just remember… don't torture the poor guy."

"Oh Nell, I don't think you understand our relationship at all." Cirucci grinned; continuing down the hallway until she slowly began her descend down the stairs. "If you're still up when I get back, I'll call you; if not, expect a call in the morning."

Harribel chuckled lightly as she watched the other woman roll her eyes at the comment; she waited for the satisfied click of the front door opening and then being pulled back closed before she turned to where the pink-haired man would soon be. "So? What are you really up to tonight?"

"Always pointing fingers, Tia; you make everyone out to be a criminal." Szayel remarked as he eventually stepped back into view; slipping a black vest on over the long-sleeve, white shirt that seemed to pull in his overall outfit together. "I'm just… going out for awhile with the others, hopefully we'll be back before midnight this time, unless Grimmjow insists on taking us for another joyride; if he does, in which case, I'll try to pack a few barf bags- turns out Menoly has motion sickness."

"Oh, so that's where Nnoitra was planning on going tonight." Nell muttered with a slight frown as she brought her hands to cross over her chest. "Tell Menoly to throw up on him this time."

"Yeah uh… I'll do that." he started; running a quick hand through his hair before he moved to step around the two women. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I do have other matters to attend to; you're welcomed to stay if you wish, there's really no reason to though."

Fingers reached out and gently caught the back of his vest; tugging it just lightly enough for him to make a fairly decent stop. "You'll have to wait a moment, I think Nell parked behind you." Harribel started; dropping her hold when she knew she had his attention.

"True that, you know what… I was just going to head home for the night anyways." she sighed with a faint yawn crossing her lips. "I guess I'll see you in the morning, Harribel- you're still dropping by right?" she watched as the darker-toned woman nodded before she turned. "Alright, good, because I didn't want to have to reschedule anything tonight. Well, I'll see you guys later on then- and do try to make sure that 'joyride' idea doesn't end in a horrific crash."

"No promises." he replied; watching as the green-haired woman eventually dragged herself away and proceeded downstairs. The moment she was out of sight, he turned back to the cinnamon-toned female behind her; a slight downward tuck of his lips marked his un-amused expression. "What is it, Harribel? I do have a schedule I have to keep."

"What is this schedule of yours? And where are you and the others going tonight?"

"… Exactly what and where you think we are."

Her oceanic eyes narrowed slightly at his answer and watched as his own amber ones refused to flinch the least bit at her sharpened contact. The brief second or two of tension was a mere blink in time before they both seemed willing to drop the act. "This soon already?"

"Unfortunately so… I don't think they appreciated our last act."

"No, perhaps not but it was quite the show."


	31. Chapter 31

If anything, he really didn't want to be here; this was the last place he wanted to be right now but unfortunately there was no way of getting out of it.

At most, he would give himself two, maybe three hours and then quietly leave out the back. Hopefully at that point no one would even notice his absence and he would just receive the all telling 'thanks for a gracious evening' email from one of the overworking secretaries in the morning. If everything went as planned, that's how it would go… however, there always seemed to be a point in time where something or someone messed up.

"Well, don't you look nice."

He rolled his eyes briefly at the remark before he looked up to the voice; taking note of the nurse standing in the doorway. Her graying red strands had been pulled back and dressed with dangling chains that hung freely from the silver clip that adorned her hair. An Emerald-color gown had been hand-picked to dress her robust figure and a draping trail was left to layer elegantly down to the floor; it tied around the neck and helped to keep a modest style as it cut only to reveal her deep collarbones. He had never witnessed her dressed outside of her usual lavender scrubs, unless you were to count the one time they ran into each other out on their respective days off… but other than that it was unusual to see her in something else.

A light chuckle escaped him as he moved to push up on the dark frames of his glasses. "It's just an old suit I had lying around."

"Yeah, the same thing with this dress; I think I might've worn it to a Russian ball once or twice." Milianne remarked in her usual, exaggerated tone. "The event's already started in case you wanted to know; they just opened the door to all sorts of guests."

"You mean, 'generous donators.'" he replied; feeling the sheer sense of dread welling up in his chest again. Slowly, he moved himself to his feet and tried to brush out the wrinkles in his white jacket. "But, I guess there's no sense in delaying the enviable. Where's Albert? I thought he was going to join you for the evening."

She answered with a short roll of the eyes. "Oh, knowing that boy, who knows. He's probably flirting with the maternity nurses for all I know. I'm surprised Cirucci isn't here already, she's normally one to get things under control from the start."

"Usually, yes but I'm kind of glad she's not at the moment." Ishida responded as he made his way across his office and to the doorway. "I'll gladly let you take her place for now though; I'd hate for the both of us to look awkward walking into the event room by ourselves."

"I suppose it would be rude of me to turn down such a gracious offer." she chuckled; lightly linking her arm with his own. "Be careful though, we wouldn't want the other two to think we've decided to switch partners for the evening."

"While as tempting as that is, I think it just might be more frightening in the long run." he remarked as the two slowly made their way down the conjoining corridor; he could already hear the sharp contact of conversations coming from the newly transformed work rooms and that irritating feeling dropped into the pit of his stomach once more. It had hardly begun and he could barely wait for it to be over already- but at least some people here looked like they were trying to have some fun with it; maybe they could make up for his fairly ill attitude towards the whole matter.

Turning the next possible corner, he peeked into the newly refined room and… well at least had to give them points for creativity; the place looked exactly like how the committee would've wanted it- although the color scheme could've been a bit better. And some of the other patrons… well they could've gone with better colors themselves, or at least better dress designs. Then again, it seemed like he was just trying to find reasons to distract himself from the overall situation. The middle of the room was left open to serve as some kind of dance floor or some sort- the lighting system above had been replaced with colorful fluorescent bulbs of some sort. It all just seemed a bit gaudy and insulting. This was a hospital, not some kind of downtown studio for them to mess with; they could've at least shown some sense of respect for it.

"Look at that, I just got my date stolen from me by a doctor; this is embarrassing, well at least we're not wearing the same suits."

He glanced up at the remark and watched as the blonde-haired nurse himself started his way over from the other side of the room. Albert seemed to have chosen a simplistic style of attire as he paired a light-blue dress shirt with a darker-blue vest. "It's not my fault if she chooses someone who's a little bit more well-dressed."

"I spilled something on my jacket in the car and I didn't want to show up with my suit dirty." Albert defended quickly as he tried to readjust his collar around his neck; it felt like it was honestly trying to suffocate him. "Besides, maybe simplistic is a nice style to go with, Mr. 'I gotta dress up for everything.'"

"Oh come on boys, you're both pretty." Milianne responded as she separated herself from his arm.

"Oh, look at that, I got my date back." Albert commented. "So where's yours?"

"Hopefully not coming." Ishida started before the light touch of someone's hand against his back said otherwise. "She's right behind me, isn't she?" the other two nodded with a light touch of a chuckle as they eventually turned to head back into open room. A brief sigh escaped him as he turned back to face the woman.

Her purple locks were pulled back to bring emphasize to her long-dangling earrings and the tight-fitting choker that encircled her slender neck; it brought attention to the soft curve of her jawline and the desirable grin that always seemed to spark mischief on her purple lips. A sterling-silver dress hugged the downward curve of her shoulders and draped lightly over her breasts to give only a modest peak at her soft cleavage; a small slit in the bundled drape cut down a bit lower but had been lightly clipped together with a small chain to keep it from sliding open. The sleek material hugged lightly around her slim body as the soft curves and contours of her appealing elements just barely showed through the gown. A reserved incision cut up the front to allow for easier movement and give some access of sight to her elegant legs, which were easily adorned in heels once more.

Unfortunately, while everyone seemed distracted by her overall show… there was something else that caught his attention.

"Where did you get that?"

"Well now I don't reveal where I buy my resources, I wouldn't want everyone trying to copy cat my looks." Cirucci answered before she moved to look past him. "I've seen better arrangements but I suppose this isn't all too bad; it could've been a lot worse. Have those pretentious douche bags arrived yet? I wanted to show them where all the hospital funding goes."

He carefully caught her by the arm as she moved to go around him before he pulled her back out into the lining corridor. "Cirucci, I'm serious. Give it back."

That same smirk from before caught her lips as she stepped back and pressed her hand against his chest to stop him; her other hand going to cover the silver necklace that hung downward to stroke the empty valley between her breasts. "Now, now…" she started; watching as his attempt to retrieve that same necklace was cut short. "You see, if you want this necklace back… you're going to have to go through the rest of the clothing to get it."

His dark eyes narrowed at the offer as a brief frown caught his lips. "I'm serious-"

"So am I." she replied as a soft shrug left her shoulders. "Finders keepers."

"I don't think that works in terms of theft."

"I'm sure it doesn't work in terms of bribery either but you know what… I don't really give a damn. See you out on the dance floor, Quincy."

He watched as she easily pushed her way past him this time and moved to enter the elegant room once more; he swore she threw in an extra of her hips on purpose. "It's not… a piece of jewelry, Cirucci."

"Oh I know." she quietly sang back to him just before she stepped out of his view. "That doesn't mean I'm going to make this any easier for you though. If you want it back that badly, you know what you have to do."

He didn't even know how the hell she managed to get her hands on one of his necklaces, a Quincy cross no less… but knowing her, it wasn't going to be the least bit easy to get it back; she made it clear on one method but he wondered if there was the possibility of another one instead. Shaking his head, he brushed aside loose strands of hair before he moved to eventually follow her back inside; taking note that the room was relatively filled at this point in just a matter of seconds maybe. Now where did she go off to?

"Heads up at the door." Milianne remarked as she passed by; a small glass of wine in one hand. "They executives have just arrived and they opened up the wine bar too- just in case you need something to keep your nerves in line."

"Are you implying I'm going to do something drastic and/or out of line when speaking to them?"

"No… a little bit, yeah."

"It would be a lie to deny it." he started. "But I don't really need to drink to handle myself. Did you see Cirucci walk by here a moment ago?"

"She walked by a few moments ago, I assumed she was trying to find you instead." Milianne answered. "Well, it shouldn't be too difficult, just follow all the eyes of the men in the room and you should be able to spot her relatively easily."

"Thanks, I'll try to find her first before I go to speak with those executives just to get it over with."

"Well, we're proud of the sacrifices you make for the hospital."

"And we're proud of the sacrifices you make for Albert-"

"Don't remind me."

He chuckled briefly at her remark and watched as she left to attend to something else on the other side of the room. Now to find out where that other woman went… of course, just like Milianne had said, it was easy to spot her once he figured out where most of the other male patrons were looking. Sometimes there was that sense of edginess with how well her open personality and narcissism went together when she was in a public setting; her fairly seductive look probably didn't help to reject any of that given attention either. Shaking his head, he slowly worked his way over to where she was enjoying herself by one of the many refreshment tables. He was careful with how he pushed his way through the crowd before he lightly touched at her arm once more and pulled her in towards him. "There are some people here I want you to meet."

"You mean people you're going need to distract by using me." she corrected as she followed him back out through the crowds; draping her arm over his own. "But I suppose it's better than getting liquored up."

"Why does everyone make that assumption?"

She shrugged lightly to avoid the answer and tucked aside a few loose strands of hair as he guided her across the room; her purple eyes looking up to spot the small group of identically dressed men near the other entrance. "So, how do I need to act? Like the snobby girlfriend or the love-struck lover?"

"I don't know, it'd probably be better if you didn't say anything at all but that's not going to happen." he started; taking the sharp elbow in the side- as he probably deserved. "Just… just don't act like anything that could get this whole thing shut down, alright?"

"I'll try but no promises."

Shaking his head, he took in a deep breath to try and brace himself for the upcoming conversation; hoping to make the best of the worst situation for now… there was a good chance it would all come crashing down though. Maybe that would be for the best if it did, at least then the hospital wouldn't be on the 'event' list ever again… or at least until he was well past dead.

He mentally groaned as one of the tuxedo-suited men turned at their approach and acknowledged his upcoming presence; spreading the word to the other few members.

"Ah, I'm glad you could show up tonight, Doctor, for a moment we were worried when we didn't see you." one of the men started with a fairly hearty chuckle; an expression that only seemed to deepen his sense of dread at the given situation. The man turned back to the others once more before he continued on with his speaking. "Here, we have the local and really only doctor on staff tonight; we should be glad that his schedule allowed him some leniency. And it appears as though he has brought with him a very beautiful assistant."

He faked a quiet chuckle and tried not to imagine killing them all in the back of his mind. "Don't flatter her, she'll get used to it."

She playfully dug her elbow into his side once more, this time aiming for just beneath his ribs before she offered her hand to the group of men before them. "Don't let him fool you, he spoils me all the time."

"Not by choice."

"Well do introduce yourself, a lovely lady such as yourself must have an equally beautiful name." a second man remarked as he carefully took her outstretched hand and laced her knuckles with a soft kiss.

"Cirucci." She answered with another charming smile as she carefully retrieved her hand and placed it against his chest. "I'm his fiancé."


	32. Chapter 32

It was difficult to keep a straight face after those three words as he did his best to not either… break out laughing or just up and leave; instead, he forced himself to stay there and fake a genuine expression as the group of men passed on their congratulations and carried on with their evening- moving on to some far area on the other side of the room. The moment they were out of earshot though, he snapped so quickly towards the woman, it seemed as though there was the chance he'd probably break himself in half. That artful grin of hers was the only thing to greet him as her fingers moved to grasp onto the light-blue tie that had been neatly tucked beneath his jacket and tugged him forward by it; her lips just briefly brushing against his own as she kept that 'mischief-accomplished' look to her.

"I've just been looking for the opportunity to raise the stakes a little bit." Cirucci teased as she let her fingers drop from him and lightly stepped back. "After all, you pushed it when you announced that I was your girlfriend in front of your friends… how else was I supposed to get my next step in?"

"Well announcing a false engagement to the head of the City council was certainly not what I was expecting." he remarked. "For all I know, they'll ran an article in the paper about it."

"Well I hope they inform me of when they'll be taking our picture together, at least that way I can ensure that I'll be looking good for the front page."

"Cirucci, I'm serious…"

She sighed faintly at the slightly-exhausted expression on his face before she moved her hands to lightly smooth out the small wrinkles in his white jacket. Perhaps she hadn't admitted it before but… the three-piece suit really did look nice on him; she thought the light-blue vest underneath was a nice touch and it carried on with his finely-dressed attitude. He seemed to wear white more often than she did, then again that was along with his… 'type of people', wasn't it? "I don't think I've told you yet, but you look absolutely stunning this evening."

He chuckled briefly at her remark as he moved her hands from his jacket and held them lightly in his own. "Flattery isn't going to forgo this whole situation."

"No, but a ring might."

"No it won't."

"Well you can't say that I didn't try." she replied before she stepped back and tugged him along with her. "Now come on, you owe me at least one dance and one walk around before we sneak out the back door."

"And who said you were going to be coming with me?" he questioned.

"Oh, well I decided to add myself to that matter." she shrugged lightly. "I mean, as much as I love parties, I prefer the ones with something a little stronger than wine and where the only reason I needed to spend a hundred dollars was for bail money."

He lightly rolled his eyes at her words but allowed for her to pull him along behind her. "Sounds like a fun group of people."

"Well you already know who they are, so it shouldn't be surprising."

"Oh yeah…"

She chuckled lightly to herself and tugged him in closer when they strove by a nearby group of chatting individuals. Although, she had to admit, at this point she couldn't really tell who had the bragging rights. Was it her because he was on her arm? Or was it him because she was on his? Well, in all honesty, she supposed they both could share the rights- he had a little more just because she was the better looking one out of the two. "Is there anyone else here that I need to meet with and ruin your reputation?"

"I would hope not."

"I heard some talk about the hospital director, is he here? I think it'd be pretty fun to mess with him and see if I couldn't pull the same stunt. Just tell him that you're going to have to make an emergency leave of absence so we can go practice C.P.R. in the back rooms."

"Uh, no… he's not here and you should be glad for that." he answered somewhat stiffly as the thought of the man's presence here only irritated him slightly.

"Well, less excuses for me- I mean, for us."

"You are ridiculous, you know that?"

She shrugged off his remark and continued to pull him along with her through the numerous crowds that collected around the different tables around the edge of the dance floor. She caught the light hint of music beginning to play overhead and made a short glance over to him; watching as he only shook his head towards her. "Oh come on, as your 'fiancé' I think we should at least settle on one dance for the evening, that's all I'm asking."

"But that's not where it's going to stop." he reminded; almost regretting the choice of words as she held that grin of hers again.

"Well depends on what we might be planning on doing later." she teased. "Because if what we're planning is the same thing I have in mind… I guess I will be asking for more from you."

* * *

It had taken maybe between an hour and a half to two hours before he finally found the perfect timing to slip out; most of the crowds had been distracted by some sort of speech so that made escaping just a bit easier. The music could only be faintly heard inside of his office, which offered enough silence from that chaotic party to still the ongoing headache that had been present the moment this whole thing was brought to his attention. At least from here he could relax for a little while longer and it made for an easier placement for escape. He was the last person to ever enjoy a social event like that but he had forced himself to bear through with it for as long as he could- and two hours was his limit. That seemed long enough to escape the chaos that was sure to be in the parking lot and any other actions of chaos that was sure to follow suit. He remembered hearing Milianne making a joke about the alcohol that had been served there and saying how it would be helping to fund the hospital in about nine months; he certainly hoped not and reminded her that he also hoped she was still holding the first glass of wine from before.

He carefully removed his glasses and pinched at the empty space between his eyes for a moment.

Hopefully this whole evening would be ending shortly and hopefully it would be in the comforts of his own home.

"Knock, knock."

He didn't really need to look up to identify the voice- as he was used to it many times by now- but still, it was nice to look. Gently fitting his glasses back on, he watched her as she pushed the door closed behind her and walked over towards him. "I thought I lost you in that mob of men who insisted on staring at every inch of you."

"Well now, you can't blame them, can you?" she questioned.

"I'm still going to, nothing's going to stop that much."

A light chuckle moved from her lips as she stepped around his desk and leaned in against one of the corners. "Yeah but that's different; you get to look at every inch all the time… for them, this is like priceless treasure."

"And for me, it's like old re-runs on TV." he shrugged lightly.

"Oh, you are a cruel man."

"Well, maybe if you gave me my necklace back, I wouldn't be so harsh towards you."

"I see what you're trying to do here, so I'm going to go ahead and intercept it and tell you that it's not going to work on me." she started; fingers lightly playing with the necklace that dangled from her neck before she closed her hand around it. "I already told you what you have to do to get it back."

Why did she always insist on making these kind of situations for him? The ones that were borderline impossible.

A long sigh escaped him as he leaned back in his chair rubbed at his temples for a moment; giving him sometime to think things through before he decided on his next words. "Is there no other way of going about this? No other way I could convince you to do?"

She seemed to think over his words for a moment before a slight turn of her lips hinted that she had put it into consideration. "Well… now that you mention it, how about we make this a little smoother? I'll let you have it back tomorrow morning."

"Seems reasonable to me- wait a minute, in what form tomorrow morning?"

"I don't know, depends on what we do tonight." she teased; watching as every time she spoke, he seemed to become more and more flustered with her. "Let me come home with you tonight and we'll put more into this little… treaty of ours."

"I have surgery that afternoon, and I'm afraid if you come home with me tonight… I won't be waking up in the morning." he remarked; listening as she offered a light chuckle at his expense. "But… if I have to go through that to get that necklace back… then maybe I will risk it."

"I'm glad we finally agree on something. Now come on, get your car keys and we can get going."


	33. Chapter 33

It seemed like the moment he pushed the front door to his house closed behind them, every inch of him seemed to scream that this whole matter was a bad idea. He watched as the woman slowly slipped off her jacket and moved to toss it over the nearest piece of furniture; seemingly to purposely ignore the coat rack just a few feet from her. A mere shake of his head followed as he moved to remove his own jacket and place it on one of the offered hooks; straightening out the small wrinkles in his dress shirt while he was at it.

"Did I ever tell you that you have a nice house?" she remarked; slowly moving her way down the opening corridor.

"To be honest, I didn't really think you saw all too much of it to notice." he answered as he moved to switch on the front room lights before he stepped into the living room just off to the side. He always had a habit of checking all the rooms when he arrived home, it was like he was expecting someone to be there waiting for him. Then again, maybe it was paranoia or just a strong sense of defense that lead him to do that. He remembered once before that Tatsuki planned a surprise party for him, either for a birthday or because of a promotion; either way, she had somehow managed to get into his house and invited all sorts of people to join for a surprise celebration. Walking in after a long day of work and being exhausted from dealing with patients, the sudden screaming of about fifteen people in the pitch darkness of his house was not the best thing for him. He ended up ruining a couch, a bookshelf and a window with one arrow; he still remembered the way it ripped straight through the furniture and erupted out through the window in an explosion of glass shards. It was… quite awkward to explain that one to the neighbors but they didn't seem all too curious about it.

A light hum left her lips as she slowly moved to step down the corridor to her right. "Oh, I remember a few small details here or there."

"Is that so?" he questioned as he turned back to face her, only to catch the glimpse of her stepping out of his sight. Sighing lightly, he went to follow after her before he stopped himself. No… no, that would be falling right into her trap, now wouldn't it? She was expecting him to follow her, which gave her the advantage which meant anything was possible to happen. But, if he didn't follow her, she still had the opportunity to do whatever she wished… which left him in a lose-lose situation; or rather, in a situation that gave her full control and power. Which wasn't healthy for him. "Uh… Cirucci, can you come back here for a moment?"

"Why?" she called back to him.

"Because I asked nicely?" he replied.

A faint sigh was just barely heard before the clicking of her heels followed as she slowly moved herself back into his line of sight; her fingers already lightly undoing the front part of her dress. "You really must not want this necklace back all too quickly, huh?"

"You said I'd get it back in the morning, so all I have to do is survive until then, right?" he questioned.

"Ooh, kinky."

Of course… he should really be careful to mind his words more often around her; she could take anything from even the smallest hint of something and turn it against him like that. Which was exactly what he needed right now- added sarcasm. One hand moved to pinch at the empty space between his eyes as a quick escaped him as well. "Look, uh, how do I put this…"

"You're intimidated by my actions and body language, but at the same time that you're not sure what to read from them, you don't know how to react to them either." she interrupted. "A few years ago, I was your enemy; you did everything you could to take me down. But now… I suppose you could say I'm standing before you as a lover instead; a polar opposite of what I once was, and you can't help but to hate and love me at the same time. Just a few weeks ago, you confessed that you loved me and you might've seemed a bit surprised when I returned those feelings. So, you have a choice to make here Quincy. You can either choose to keep this going or you can leave it where it's at. But just to let you know, it's going to eventually dry out and rot if it stays in the same place for too long. I'm giving you this choice for once."

He thought she just wanted to sleep with him…

But the more she spoke on it, the more things became both clearer and harder for him. Yes, he confessed that he did… love her, even though the phrase was still difficult to repeat even now. Yes, things were getting confusing because she was once his enemy, and even though it was a past thing… things still didn't feel settled with it quite yet. He just wanted to find out who she really was, and now that he did, it was like he wanted to back out of the whole matter. Was it some kind of subconscious fear of commitment? Well, perhaps that was a terrible choice of words to use, but it still felt like there were obstacles that had to be overcome first. But given the choice now, he didn't have the luxury of waiting anymore.

"You really know how to turn a situation around, don't you?"

That persistent grin of hers perked up on the corner of her lips once more. "I think of it as a personal trait. And I think it works wonderfully with my personality."

Well… that was hard to argue with. A light chuckle escaped him as he slowly walked over to where she was standing; fingertips lightly playing with the purple strands that still had the freedom to hang down along the curve of her jawline. "Well, your personality is something to be careful with."

"Oh don't worry, I don't bruise easily." she returned as fingertips moved to lightly play with his tie before she slowly loosened the soft material enough to remove it. "You on the other hand, look like you'd get a bruise by just looking at you wrong- although, in that case, you would've had several ruptured organs by now."

"Your romanticism is really quite admirable as well." he noted lightly with a touch of sarcasm. "Look, Cirucci… I just don't think- you're going to undo my shirt even when I'm trying to have this conversation with you, aren't you?"

She barely gave much of a nod as fingertips moved to grasp the small zipper at the collar of his shirt; slowly easing it down along his chest, she noted that he didn't seem to offer the least bit of hesitation at the act- until it reach about halfway down his sternum that is, which was where his hands finally caught her. "Is there a problem?"

"Well, I'd like to discuss this matter before you decide to get rid of all my clothing." he replied.

"Can't we talk and undress at the same time?"

"Look, I just don't think either of us are… prepared for this kind of step yet; I mean, did we really just ditch out on the office party to come back here and-" he paused in mid-sentence as he watched her remove her hands and slowly reach back behind her dress to peel down at the zipper. "What are you doing?"

She gave a light shrug and moved the zipper down to her mid-back. "The more you talk, the less interested I get, so… if I can't undress you while you talk, I might as well undress myself."

It was like clockwork, waiting for the fabric of her dress to drape further down along her shoulders before he moved to stop the advancement of it; lightly holding the material in his hands. Which, unfortunately, left him open as she moved her hands back to finish off the front of his shirt before she shifted to grace her body against his own for a brief moment; lightly tugging the white fabric of his shirt free from where it had been tucked in. So, he had a choice: he could either let her go and let the dress fall further downward or he could let her freely strip him of his own shirt instead.

"Have I properly expressed how much I hate you at this given time?" he started.

She chuckled and let a light grin take over as she watched him seemingly struggle with what his next choice should be. Her hands moved to slide underneath his shirt before he finally made the choice to cease her actions; using one hand to keep her dress in place while he brushed aside her touch with the other. "Why are you always so… modest, Quincy? It's like you don't want me to see you naked."

"I just want to talk this through first because I don't want there to be any regrets in the morning."

"Well, I think you might regret passing this chance up but that's just me." she remarked.

"Cirucci… could you just… maybe even act serious for once? Just for two minutes?"

He seemed to be quite serious about it this time, although his tone reflected possibly more exhaustion than anything else. Sighing lightly, she relaxed her grip on him for a moment. "Quincy, if I threw you on the ground right now and had my way with you, there wouldn't be so much of a sliver of regret; if we waited two weeks or two months, there still wouldn't be a moment of regret to pass. I played as your girlfriend a few months ago and now, for tonight, I play as your fiancé… don't make me regret answering that question with a yes."

The soft brush of her fingertips as they pushed through his dark bangs was mildly distracting as he caught the light sparkle in her eyes; sometimes he wished he could blame his terrible decisions on some kind of third party attribute, like too much alcohol or something. But in the end, it was always the same kind of result. He always gave into her, he always let her get her way. More than likely because by the end of it, he was willing to let her win and let their conflicting interests merge together for a moment, or for a night.


	34. Chapter 34

She brought him in against her and felt the mattress underneath give in to their combined weight, emitting a soft squeak of protest at the sudden additions. The lingering embrace that had come and gone between them was finally settling its score as she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled him in closer to solidify the kiss; the extra presence and heat of his lips against her own was enough to tempt a quiet moan but the light taste of his tongue was the breaking point of drawing it out. They had their fair share of romancing kisses but the pressure of him on top of her was enough to intensify the moment. There was that night they shared just a few weeks ago that was a lot like this one, except maybe more spontaneous but then again they were a little tipsy at the time as well- which probably had a lot to do with it.

She could feel the way his hands moved up from her waist and slowly along the curve of her sides; fingers just lightly tangling in the thin material of her dress. The front of it remained partly open but was still concealing enough of her breasts to keep some kind of modesty- although she wasn't really all bothered with modesty right now. Her legs were lightly hugging his waist as the soft fabric of her gown rolled downward and tugged around her thighs; for Gods' sake, who cared about decency? Fingertips slowly slid down the curve of his jawline as she pushed upward to encourage the embrace further; listening to the low groan that left him in return.

It had been awhile since she was last with a man who was so… quiet like this.

He moved back after her forward push and broke off the embrace in mid-enjoyment; feeling the slight impression of her nails into his jaw as she rejected the motion. "I just have to ask, how much did this dress cost you?"

"Why do you enjoy asking so many questions and talking so much?" she remarked; letting herself fall back against the pillows underneath.

"Well I just… I didn't want to rip it." he admitted. "It's a mix of satin, silk and polyester, it's really quite tender to any kind of tugging and the fabric will fray; the hem might split as well, and the material might stretch. I just don't want it to get ruined."

She rolled her eyes lightly and pushed herself up once more; fingertips drawing the material down along the curve of her shoulders and encouraging it off the shape of her breasts. "I would almost wonder if you're even attracted to me when you say things like that… but if you want, we can go ahead and get rid of it right now."

"I didn't say that-"

She interrupted his remark and took advantage of his words as they left him open-mouthed and vulnerable; her forceful embrace was enough to distract his attention from her fingers as they peeled off the top portion of her dress; allowing for the material to loosen around to her abdomen. She was pretty certain he would've rejected any kind of sudden nudity just because of how modest he always was, she didn't really see a point for it right now though; if anything, she was almost insulted that he didn't look at her breasts- which were pretty amazing if she had to say so. Pulling him back down to her, she moved to cross her arms over the back of his neck before she felt the way he gradually responded to her kiss. The pressure of his body pressing down onto her own finally signaled that they were going somewhere; his hands remained somewhere entangled in the mess of material around her abdomen.

He moved away from the second embrace, seemingly to her disdain once more before he dropped to the curve of her neck, just beneath her jawline. There was a smooth moan that escaped her at the motion as he slowly trailed down along the throbbing artery of her neck; her arms tightened slightly more at the sensations before they eventually dropped away. Her hands tucked themselves underneath the material of his shirt and slowly began to ease it away from his shoulders; peeling the material away to reveal the pale skin underneath. He pushed to tilt her head back and reveal more of the curve of her neck as he followed the shape of her throat. She could feel the soft embrace of his lips and the occasional tease from the tip of his tongue as he catered to the whimsical call of flesh; every careful touch left another rush of sensations spreading underneath her skin to give that new heart of hers a workout. He was careful with every motion as though to make sure not a single inch in his path was missed. He always was a man about detail though- she knew that trait would come in handy eventually.

Urging the fabric from his shoulders, she slid it down along his biceps and was partly glad with how the shirt was loose enough to avoid restricting the movement of his arms. She pushed her fingers underneath the material and pressed them against the warm skin of his back; feeling the way his muscles slowly flexed underneath her touch. His lips skimmed against the dip of her neck as she moved to press her hands against his back; feeling the motion of every breath, every rise of his lungs from beneath their settled engagement. She moved to trace small shapes into his skin before feeling a small knot of flesh rise up underneath her fingertips; curiosity held her for a few short seconds but quickly dissipated when he grabbed at her lips again. The touch and taste of him once more was enough to leave the reaction in the past as she pulled him in for a deeper embrace. Fingertips still continued to run over the curves of his back as she deemed herself determined to scope out every inch of him there was to find; wanting to leave her mark on every piece of skin there was on his body. Her hands pressed to take the empty space between his shoulder-blades before feeling yet another knot of flesh move underneath her. Curiosity was greater this time as she took her time to find the source of it, to find what exactly the knots were this time.

She felt him pull away for a moment with a light groan as her fingertips dug lightly into the hardened strips of flesh; feeling the way his skin shuddered underneath her harsher touches. "And just what are these?" she questioned as she continued on with her extravagant investigation and listened to the quiet reactions he gave with every motion.

"They're scars." he answered; trying to pull away from her touch as the persistent pressure against the raised tissue continued to prove their remaining rawness. It seemed like despite the years that had passed from their original, bloodied origins, the unnatural tissue refused to heal properly still.

She watched as he tried to relieve himself of her touch, which only seemed to fuel her curiosity on the matter. Her hands moved away but continued to tug at his shirt; urging him to remove it which he eventually pulled away from her to do. Her eyes fell to the pale-red scar that plagued across his sternum and couldn't resist the urge to skim her fingertips across it. "You're a bit more scarred than I thought, Quincy… where did you get this one?"

It was probably one of the few injuries that healed improperly and left behind a convincing mark in its place; it wasn't that he really had all too many scars, with the exception of the ones on his back, it was just that the other few were rather noticeable. The one across his sternum was exactly as such. "It's a long story… one that I'd rather not go into details with."

She nodded lightly and supposed that was understandable. "What about the ones on your back? Who do those belong to?"

"Weren't you complaining earlier about how I asked too many questions?" he replied as he moved to brushe aside her tangled locks, gently easing them out of their pulled back style.

Fingers wrapped around the rounded shape of his biceps before they trailed down the slender form of his arms; following to where he still had them pressed against her waist. "Yeah but you were asking annoying questions… I find the presence of scars on your body to be intriguing; you're a thorough, collective man, Quincy and you're not entirely easy to engage in a fight, and even if so, you're both intelligent and fast enough to avoid most attacks. So, the fact that you have scars in the first place mean you're a bit more thick-skinned than originally thought; you've got the flesh of a fighter and the stories of blood loss and pain. If that's not attractive, then I don't know what is."

A light chuckle escaped him as he leaned down to pursue her lips once more before he continued his marking down along her neck and back to the dip of her nape; this time, furthering the process as he touched lightly at the slim flat of her sternum. "You're bullshitting me."

"Don't tease me with the answer, Quincy, or else you're the one bullshitting here." she responded; fingertips playing with the silver necklace once more as she pulled it out of his way.

"They belong to you."

The answer should've really been more obvious and open to her, and yet… it still seemed to catch her off-guard just a tiny bit. She barely felt the continuous press of his lips as he moved downward against her sternum until he was settled in the empty valley between her breasts. The rounded curves of his glasses stroked the inner shapes of her breasts as the tip of his tongue was enough to stir her flesh into a faint shudder. She felt a light arch of her spine come forth and urged his movements onward as her fingers shifted to tangle in his black strands; fingertips just barely pressing into his scalp as she felt him tighten his hold around her waist. He only paused momentarily when he touched at the curve of her abdomen, just where her dress was left bundled together.

He leaned away from her for a moment before she pulled herself to him; her lips claiming him for a longer embrace this time. She showed no hesitation in greeting his tongue with her own as she forced herself past his lips; engaging him in a rougher collision as she stirred the lingering sensations that rushed beneath her skin. He was quick to catch on to her scheme as he gave into her and allowed for her to take control of the action; finally allowing himself to fall completely in to her as he followed her every motive. It was a different rush of sensations as the movement and lines between gasping lips and sinful tongues blurred between them. She felt the soft caresses of his tongue move against her own while she preferred the more raunchier, faster paced motions that left him panting to keep up. Fingertips scratched at his jawline once more as she locked them in place to keep the embrace from falling apart- he seemed to have a habit of refusing to commit to them for very long.

Utilizing the tight lock of her legs around his waist, she pressured his hips into giving out and giving her the opportunity to exchange their positions. She felt more comfortable over him anyways as her hands moved to tilt his head back and further the engagement of their embrace. Her dress bundled somewhat uncomfortably around her hips as she settled her legs in around the space of his waist once more; she could ignore the material for now since it didn't seem to be hindering her in the least bit.

The embrace broke away in a tangled mess of gasps and broken air as she let him peel away from her this time. She watched with careful ease the way his chest lifted in heavy strokes to replenish the oxygen that had been stolen from his lungs; his pale skin was flushed with shades of heat that discolored his body in different colors of red. The beginning tarnish around his lips warned her to be a bit more mindful with her heavy embraces, unless they wanted someone awkwardly pointing it out tomorrow morning- actually that would be hilarious.

"What are you thinking about?" he suddenly questioned; catching that quick turn at the corner of her lips- one of which was never a good thing and always drew suspicion.

"Nothing." she answered in half-honesty before fingertips lightly pulled at the thin-frames that were tucked against the bridge of his nose. She folded them together and tossed them aside to hopefully land safely somewhere else.

"I really hope those didn't break-" the words were barely started before they stopped when her hands moved back to his jaw. The soft brush of her lips against his forehead interrupted him in mid-sentence before she slowly moved down to repeat the touch at the bridge of his nose, and then dropped to skim them against his own. It didn't really take long for him to forget about the glasses after that.

She dipped down to press lightly against the curve of his neck as her hands moved to press in against his shoulders. There was no hiding the light tremble of his throat with her touch against his skin as she slowly moved down to caress the raised curve of his deep collarbones. His heart was wavering against his sternum as it pulsated in contact with her; she could feel the strength of his heartbeat as it ran uncontrollably in his chest and wondered if hers was doing the same. There was a soft caress of his hands as they slowly stroked the tender curve of her hips and waist, as though really unsure of where to touch or go. And she was okay with that, for now at least, it let her concentrate on the slender curve that moved from his chest plate to the smooth protrusion of his ribcage. She could feel the slight distill of his breathing every now and again as he tried to control the wavering gasps that left him. He was a quiet lover at this point and she wondered if she should take the challenge to try and… change that; maybe see what it would take to get him to raise his voice a little more. Maybe it would be a game to see how far she could push him.

It was a softly pressed kiss against the slight rise of his ribs and the tip of her tongue tracing shapes into his skin that finally provoked another quiet moan from him. Her hands moved to slide in against his abdomen and she felt the slight movement of his muscles adjusting and almost cringing underneath her touch.

His hands eventually dropped away from her waist as they moved to press underneath him instead; pushing himself up slightly to force his abdomen into a brief curve which she entertained herself with following. She was forced to move her hands away from his shoulders and to the mattress underneath to keep her balance while arching her spine inward. He leaned in towards her and teased her with just a short, brief contact against her lips; teasing her as he refused to go in for a full embrace. When she leaned in to close the space, the fleeting touch of his warm fingertips skimmed along the front of her left thigh caught her attention. He pressed his full palm against her skin before he moved to lift her leg away from his waist; effortlessly pushing her back over when she willed it. It was more of a playful touch as he followed her motion and stroked the center of her throat once more. He continued to keep one hand against her leg as he pushed aside the remaining material that had partly draped across the slender limb.

She brushed her fingers through his hair and held him against her neck as his hands moved to grasp at her waist once more; this time, he lightly gathered the thin material of her dress in his fingers before he ever so carefully tugged it free from her waist. It was a short game as she refused to let him have it easy and encouraged him to force the material from her body. He had to grasp at her hips and lift them enough to pull the material free before laying them to rest. She had to admit that the full heat of his hands moving down over her thighs was intoxicating as she felt the odd mixture of his fingertips and the satin touch of her dress blur well together. Kicking off the gown at last, she felt him pull away for a moment but caught him at the last moment; skimming her lips against his own. "I'll hang it up later."

"I'd hate for it to get wrinkles in it." he responded back in play.

Grinning, she pushed herself up in against him and lightly grasped the front of his belt with her fingers. "Well, you'll just have to get used to wrinkles, now won't you?" she remarked as she slowly loosened the front of his belt before she carefully pulled it out of its belt loops; it was barely much for her attention as she tossed it aside and over the edge of the bed. She lightly tucked her fingertips into the waistband of his pants and tugged him in towards her.

He lightly caught her by the wrists and moved to pin them back down to the mattress below; his lips shifted to touch at her own now. Releasing her from his hold, he moved to trace his fingertips down along the center of her abdomen once more, this time just barely following the curve of her lower stomach; teasing the inch of flesh above the waistband of her purple underwear. The warm touch was enough to stir a slight shudder throughout her as she tried to control the motion every time he stroked the same area again and again.

It was a play of hands now as she moved to cover his own and give a little guidance to where she wanted their presence. The spread of warmth between her thighs seemed to heat up as his hands pressed in against the soft flesh; his touch following every subtle curve and every small hint that she gave him.

Their lips merely balanced on one another's as every gasp of breath that escaped them flooded out into open air and influenced the tension in and around their bodies. Every curve of her body was pressed tightly in against his own as though space was a necessity of evil at this given moment; the touch of bare flesh burned with pure friction as though the skin was hoping to merge and blend into one another seamlessly.

It was a reverse of roles and quick hands that finally tossed aside the remaining pieces of clothing that had shielded the complete touch of every inch of skin. She took her own pleasure in removing the coarse fabric of his dress pants and purred lightly at the feel of his fingertips slowly removing the lace of her underwear. The mix of lips and tongues seemed to be lost somewhere in the tangled mess of flesh and limbs as bodies intertwined; the mattress voiced multiple complaints as they pushed one another back and forth across the bed. Fingertips never grew tired of scoping out the same curves and contours of skin as she buried her nails rather harshly into the soft tissue of his waist; it might've just bruised or drawn blood, she'd have to check it out in the morning.

His hands moved to support her hips as she moved one leg to the other side of his waist; straddling him as her fingers curled in against his shoulders and pushed them back against the headboard behind him. The warm, wet contact of her lips against his was still enough of a distraction to make every movement of hands and flesh seemingly blurred together. She moved to grasp at his jawline now and pulled him forward into a greater, harsher embrace that was bound to leave bruises if not handled correctly.

The sudden heat of her body moving down against his own was enough to pull them into conjoining moans that seemed to merge into one another's as their open lips remained partly balanced in support. Her grip tightened intensely and pressed in against his jaw as his fingers produced the same pressure into her hips, pressing in against her pelvis bone. She was moaning with every progressive movement before her hands moved to press back against his shoulders; arcing her own back inward as she let his hands carefully ease her down. The sheer heat that invaded her body moved perfectly with him as her strong muscle walls ached for his touch and penetration; just the feeling alone of her body separating was enough to restart the pounding of her heart.

It was difficult to ignore how vocal she was. Here he was letting the blinding rush of sensations and reactions escape in partial gasps and heavy pants, while she showed no signs of restraining herself. She sounded like she was on the verge of screaming as she settled completely against him; her legs partly squeezing his hips as her fingertips dug rather painfully into his shoulders. That should've been something to know though, right? She was loud regardless of what was going on.

One hand moved to lightly cup her chin as he pulled her forward and brought their lips back together into a momentary embrace. "If I had known you were going to be so… vocal, I would've warned the neighbors."

"No, no, let them find out." she grinned as her fingers moved to tuck aside his hair. "It wouldn't be the first noise citation I've received."

"… Why am I not surprised by that?"

"Shh… let's talk later."

The sheering heat of moving friction was constantly rushing the flow of blood through their bodies as skin felt like it was ready to melt away from bone. Hands guided hips and formed a steady rhythm between their arching and aching bodies. Her fingernails were back to digging painfully into the flesh of his shoulders as she gave into every thrust with a pleasured response from her throat. His hot breath flooded into the valley between her breasts as his hands remained on the slim form of her hips; adoring the way they seemed to fit perfectly into his palms.

Hands eventually gave his shoulders a rest as they moved to cup the back of his neck instead; feeling the heated press of his lips against her chest once more. It was hypnotic to feel the way he carefully scoped out his trail and moved down along his own paths. The touch of his hands moving to lightly grasp her ribcage was followed by the passive contact of his tongue against the tender tissue of her right breast before the sheering warmth of his lips skimmed across her vulnerable nipple. It only added to her already overworked nerves as they struggled to keep a hold on the ongoing sensations that flooded through her. Her hips ached with every motion between them; the added tension of his tongue against her breast only fueled the overpowered beats of her heart. Fingernails couldn't help but to abuse the back of his neck just the same as she urged him on with the growing moans and vocals that escaped her.

He teased her and kept her high on tension as every stroke was made with precision and articulated carefully to get the full effect. The brief escape of cold air against the hardened perk was enough to draw a deep shudder from her arched spine and she found her shoulders pressing forward with the reaction; her hips tensing enough to gather a soft groan from him just the same.

Careful to mimic previous actions, she felt his hands move to follow the curve of her back as he balanced out the same techniques on her left asset. It was a startling reaction that only seemed to bruise the inside lining of her lungs as she beckoned him to continue. It was a terribly addicting touch as any shred of defense that might've been left shattered effortlessly into the pulsing heat that radiated between them; the suffocating friction that moved their bodies in complete rhythm and encouraged them to press the speed, the force of it with every passing minute.

She could feel that familiar tension tightening in her lower stomach as her hips almost seemed to refuse to move at certain moments; slight guidance from his returning hands pulled them back into step before every motion seemed to become heavier and slower.

Those last few moments were accented with mixed breaths and differentiating volumes as lips were a miss and hit at times. It was a twist of lingering pain and pleasure as chemical rushes disrupted proper balance and nerves were on the dying end of bliss. It was a moment of heated stillness and tightened fingers as weakened gasps broke out along bruising lips; lungs caught in the motion of breathing and exhaling at the same time; muscles contracting and stringing together as the blood flow itself seemed to come to an abrupt stop; hearts on the verge of breaking free from their bone-like prison suddenly sunk back to the stilled lungs as though to give up on the battle.

The heavy pants that escaped the both of them seemed to intensify the tension of heat in the air as she pressed her forehead in against one shoulder; taking the brief moment of rest in full circle as her hands propped themselves up against his chest. He gently pulled aside her purple strands before he pressed his hands against the center of her back; pressing his lips gently against the curve of her shoulder and feeling the remaining heat of her flesh radiate itself freely.

Slowly, her fingers reached back and untied the necklace that remained tied at the base of her neck before she slowly let it fall freely into her hands. She pressed the warm piece into his chest as she moved back just enough to bring her lips against the corner of his own. "I'll let you win this bet early."

He moved to retrieve the piece and looked at it briefly; running the flat of his thumb down the smooth material of the silver and blue cross. Taking a moment, he turned back to press against her lips just the same; taking her hand with one of his own, he set the necklace in her palm and closed her fingers around it- holding it still for a moment. "You keep it."


	35. Chapter 35

The burning tip of the cigarette seemed to draw itself closer and closer to his fingers as he set it aside momentarily; the black remains of the burning cylinder dissipated into thin ashes that floated downward into the partly filled ceramic dish below. A slow exhale allowed for the silver clouds of smoke to escape from his lips as he crossed his arms over the thin banister of the balcony; it was a small, last minute addition to the master bedroom that had ultimately won him over when it came down to making a decision in the housing competition. He didn't really know why he enjoyed coming out here so often but… something about the early morning breeze and the slight overlook seemed to go well together.

He pressed the still smoldering tip of the cigarette into the bottom of the ceramic dish and ultimately smothered the burning end easily. Why did he still smoke anyways? It was a terrible habit and… well it was a habit overall, which is what made it addictive. Still, he hated it for the sheer fact that he picked it up from Ryuken- not exactly the best role model in the world.

And just what the hell did he get himself into?

Everything from the night before, from the whole 'event', to the skipping out and moving into his office and then… letting her persuade him like that- although she would rather use the term 'seducing' which did seem a bit more appropriate for the given situation. The entire night afterwards… he just couldn't believe he let himself fall into it so easily. There should've been more of a resistance, more something just like all the times before but instead… well, he didn't really need to remind himself what happened. What happened last night was still in his bed this morning, probably all curled up in the blanket since she seemed to have the tendency of stealing it afterwards.

Why did he leave himself vulnerable to situations like that? Situations that gave her that much of an advantage over him.

A warm set of hands somehow managed to find their way against him as the feel of calmer flesh moved to press against his back; arms lightly draping themselves around his waist. A light chuckle removed itself from her lips as she tucked her head into the empty dip between his shoulder-blades. "You know, if you're one of those people who smokes after a night like that…you better make sure you have another pack."

A brief chuckle escaped him as he turned around in her arms and looked down at her; feeling the way she promptly rested her chin against his chest. Her purple locks were disheveled and fell into messy strands around her shoulders; her matching eyes were just barely open as a somewhat satisfied smile resided on her lips. "Actually, I got a call from work earlier today; I have to be back at two for a scheduled surgery that they assumed I had forgotten about."

"Well did you?"

"Not entirely."

She chuckled to herself this time as she moved her hands to push against the railing behind him; stretching slightly to work out the tension in her shoulders. "Well it's only twelve now, which is surprising seeing as I'm rarely awake this early after that kind of activity."

"It's actually more like twelve thirty and I was planning on going in at one to go over details of the surgery with the patient; which means, I need to start getting ready now so I can get there in time without looking rushed."

"Haven't we been through something like this before?"

"It does seem like a running theme with us, doesn't it?"

One hand moved to pull together the loose shirt she had thrown on moments before while the other ruffled up her confused locks. "Well I guess that's just what I should expect with a Quincy. Am I still required to show up today?"

"Actually, I think you might be scheduled off for the day." he started as he took the time to remove himself from the railing that had started to dig into his back and moved back around her; stepping into his bedroom once room. "I imagine that half of the staff won't be coming back in today."

"Oh don't worry, you'll see them back in a few months or so." she teased; slowly moving back in after him. She watched as he eventually made his way to the bathroom across from the balcony, no doubt planning a morning shower before work. It wasn't surprising, although she kind of liked how his skin retained a hint of her perfume from the night before. Hands were already in the process of removing a shirt he had thrown on for the moment; revealing old and new injuries on his skin. There were a few fresh scratches on his shoulders and around his neck- there was sure to be one on his left hip as well; a few more bruises to add to his collection from where her fingers might've pressed too harshly against his skin, but what could she say, she liked it a little rough sometimes.

Still, she found her eyes drawn to the pale scars that continued to plague his skin; his entire back almost taken up from long marks that stretched end to end, a few of them curved around his side while others struck to a specific linear path. She remembered almost specifically how some of them felt underneath her fingertips but she couldn't have possibly been able to touch all of them; the visible number of strikes surprised even her.

It was difficult to ignore that burning pressure of her eyes against him; even now, the feeling continued to make him unease as he glanced back to her for a moment. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, I was just sitting here thinking… my aim was a lot better than I thought it was." she shrugged lightly.

"Yeah, mine too."

There was a brief period of silence where neither of them seemed sure if they should feel offended or just pass it off as a piece of the past; the moment was merely bypassed as they both moved into different areas and decided to toss out the moment as though it hadn't occurred. At least, not yet.

Ruffling her hair, she pulled it back from her face as she stepped out from the bedroom and slowly made her way through the house; making her way through the fairly straight corridors until she came to the neatly-aligned kitchen. She was still a little woozy from the drinking last night but at least it wasn't a hangover, then again she was pretty sure she had perfected the balance of keeping one away. As long as she could still set up a pot of coffee for later, then she was still in a pretty good functioning balance. It only too a few steps before she set the new pot into the machine for a new brewing round and leaned back against the counter behind her; stifling a soft yawn that interrupted her.

Well… last night was certainly one for the books.

Ah shit, now everyone else was going to be on her ass about what happened and wanting all the details; although she had warned Nell that she would call her that morning if something did happen. There was no regret about last night, in fact she was kind of looking forward to another, short round but decided that he probably wanted a bit of privacy during his morning routine. Her only problem was spilling it to everyone else, although she had been doing that from the first day and they were all expecting it anyways. Aw hell, in the end, there were no problems then. The tension was finally out of the way and she knew exactly what to tell the others should- or rather when- they ask.

One hand moved to rub at the back of her neck as she gently rolled it back and forth; waiting for that all telling pop to finally happen and work out the stiffness that had settled in over night. A satisfying groan escaped when it did occur and she let her hand move back to readjust the loose shirt she had thrown on moments before. It was one of his that she grabbed from his dresser, she was somewhat surprised that it seemed to fit her just as well; given the chance, she might just wear it back home to avoid the risk of making one of those 'Walk of Shame' looks. Although, she preferred to call them the 'Walk of Victory' instead, because that's how she felt afterwards and this was certainly a victory for her to take. Just when she thought he was going to hold out on her forever…

Still, she could hear the scream of irony in the back of her head.

The one man she had learned to hate with a seething passion in that short battle was the only one she had been content with chasing for this long period of time; at first it had been for the sheer fact of making him hate her even more and then… well somewhere along the way, things twisted and ended up on the other side of the spectrum.

Wait, that wasn't even the definition of irony. What word was she even thinking of? Fuck it, she wasn't here for a literary lesson.

Oh God, she could already hear Szayel bringing it up; it was going to be hell to try and get around him about it. He was just going to bring up exactly what she just said to herself… and she couldn't deny it. She really couldn't. Then again, at this point, she had learned many ways to avoid him and get around in a conversation, so she should be set.

And to think all those scars on his back belonged to her. They were given by her hand, so it was only right that they still belonged to her. There was still some sick kind of pride in them though and she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted that feeling to go away or not. He had plenty of other scars so it was only right for her to claim something…

She moved to give into a long stretch to help ease herself from her own thoughts before she looked over to see that the coffee pot was mostly halfway full- enough for her. Heading over to the cabinet, she fished out a small mug and walked back towards the coffee machine; removing the pot just long enough to fill most of the mug before she set it back without causing all too big of a mess. The heavy scent from the coffee beans was enough to wake her up as she held it between her hands for the warmth. At least for now she could sit back and think about what her day was going to consist of; it probably wouldn't hurt if she did some shopping, picked up around the house, or check in and see how Nell was doing with the new baby. Well, he was probably like two or three weeks out now, so he wasn't necessarily new but still- well hell, he was still new regardless.

She moved to press the mug against her lips before feeling the touch of his hands around her waist; feeling the slight brush of his lips against the side of her neck. "Shit… I almost tossed this coffee on you."

"Well that would've been an inconvenience on my part." he remarked.

"Yeah, but then I would've been forced to help you with that second shower."

"Oh well then, good thing you didn't." he replied as he slowly stepped away from her. "I should be done around four or five this afternoon but it all depends on how much paperwork gets done beforehand."

She chuckled lightly and turned back towards him. "I'm gonna head back home for a few hours but if you want… we can meet back here later."


	36. Chapter 36

They were terrible morning after people but she had a feeling they would probably make up for it later somehow.

Slamming her car door shut behind her, she barely paid much attention to whether or not the vehicle locked before she started towards the house with a brief skip in her step. She needed to get in a long shower and change into something more suitable before she went out again- she also probably needed to wash these borrowed clothes and put up her outfit from the party. All that could be done later though. If she wanted to relax now, there was nothing stopping.

Helping herself up the front staircase, she paused briefly to fix a strap on her heel but stopped before her fingers even touched the shoe; her eyes more drawn to the splashes of red against the stairs beneath her. They certainly weren't there when she left and when she just lightly brushed her fingertips against it, it proved to still be slightly wet- so it was still fresh. But where did it come from? And what exactly was it? She knew what it looked like but hopefully it wasn't blood- God help her and say it's not blood. She stepped around it for a moment and rested her hand on the nearby railing; pulling away at an unfamiliar texture only to watch as the same kind of red liquid seemed to stretch itself between her railing and her hand. Okay, was someone playing a trick on her? Because it wasn't funny. And if they thought it was… well then she was going to break them off at the knees.

Continuing her way up the staircase, she shoved aside the front door and waited momentarily; listening to the festering silence inside… normally she wasn't all too worried about it but after all that shit outside, she tried to seem a bit more 'concerned' for it. Using her fingertips to push the door closed behind her, she slowly made her advance forward down the opening hallway. "Hey Szayel, you in here?" she lightly called, although not really sure as to why she did it- it wasn't like he was going to provide her with all too many answers or even try to reassure her about what the fuck was outside; if anything, he'd just tell her to ignore it and that he'd clean it up later. Like he always did. She wasn't even sure if he was home or not- he could've still been out on some kind of fuck date or something for all she knew.

"Yeah, I'm in the kitchen."

The returned response felt unusually comforting as she made her way further down the short hallway until she entered the seemingly spotless kitchen; it certainly didn't look that way when she left it the night before… and while he seemed to have some offset of O.C.D., he really only cleaned like this after some kind of bloody event. And that worried her sometimes because he never actually told her what he did when she wasn't around. Why was she getting sidetracked like that so easily? Fuck it, she didn't really care much for how the kitchen looked, it was the front porch that worried her. "What's with that bloody mess in front of the house? The neighbors are going to think that we murdered someone- unless you did, in which case we can't let them know about it." she questioned as she stepped through the opening of the kitchen; pausing only slightly when she noticed him sitting at the table on the other end of the room. His face slightly hidden behind his hands as his arms were partly braced against the table.

"What mess?" he questioned as he slowly pulled his hands away from his face and looked up to her; dropping his hands to preoccupy them with the now cold coffee cup in front of him. "Oh yeah, that one, yeah just uh… it's fine, I'll probably paint over it later."

"Well, I don't care about what you're going to do to fix it, I want to know where it came from." she started; stopping as she watched him seem to push the coffee cup around in front of him in a mindless state of work. That was… odd seeing as he rarely wasted his time on small matters such as that; he was always that one guy who insisted on perfect time management and didn't want to spend a minute of time on something useless and/or wasteful. And yet, here he was doing that exact thing. She was far from the caring side and he was the last person she really ever gave a shit about but… she took note that there seemed to be something else going on. His skin was usually pale anyways but it was noticeably paler now, which only made her more questioning about ongoing situation. "And why do you look like shit anyways?"

"Like you really have much to say." he countered as he removed his glasses and rubbed at the empty space between his eyes. "You're still wearing last night's makeup, you're just now coming home after a big 'party' at your work place and should I even begin to mention that the clothes you're wearing don't even belong to you?"

"Yeah but I didn't leave that place all covered in blood or whatever that is out on the front porch." she snapped back easily. "Just tell me what the hell it came from and what the hell happened-" she stopped herself in midst of questioning. "… What did you do?"

A slight aggravated sigh escaped as he slipped his glasses back on and pushed himself from the table; he walked back over towards the sink and dropped the coffee mug in with little regards to if it broke or not. He barely even looked at her when he spoke. "I didn't do anything- well, let me rephrase that, I didn't mess up the plan."

She frowned at his answer and barely stepped aside when he moved to walk out of the kitchen; she was quick to grab his arm when he tried to step around her. "Just what the fuck are you talking about?" she continued; taking note of the slightly swollen cut just underneath his right eye.

He pulled himself free from her grip and continued on around her. "Exactly what you think I did."

She hated it when he played those damn mind games with her.

She waited for the slight echo of his footsteps to disappear upstairs and listened for the click of his bedroom door being closed before she pulled her cellphone free from her pocket: fingertips dialing in a quick number before she brought it up to one ear. The other line buzzed a few times before another click hinted that someone had finally picked up. "Tia, what the hell happened last night?"

There was a brief silence on the other side before a voice answered. "Uh… who is this?"

Her nose wrinkled briefly at the thick and heavy voice on the other line. "And when did your testosterone level jump up about five hundred times?"

"Because this is Starrk…"

Oh, of course… that would explain it, although she should've been able to guess that; it was rare for the other woman to leave her phone around for someone else to answer. "Sorry about that Starrk, I was calling for Harribel, is she there?"

"Yeah, give me a minute." his rough voice spoke as a slight squeak seemed to voice off in the background before it was followed by his faint calling. "Tia, Cirucci's wanting you!"

Wanting her? That sounded so dirty. Shaking her head, she leaned in against the closest counter to her and waited for the phone to be switched between the two of them.

"Well, you interrupted my shower time, what's the problem?"

"What happened last night when I was out?" Cirucci questioned as she tapped her fingernails against the countertop next to her.

The brief pause on the other line seemed to give in to her greater fear as she waited for a long answer- hoping to get something that would at least explain this whole mess to her. A quiet sigh of defeat hinted that she would soon get just that.

"There was another calling last night; we've been tracking it for awhile now and… well it moved in a lot quicker than we expected and we had to take action. Unfortunately, there seemed to be some kind of flaw in the plan… or someone got the details mixed up. Don't worry, the problem was taken care of but there might've been a few… injured in the wake of it."

"And?"

"And… that's it."

She snorted lightly. "That doesn't explain why my front deck looks like a fucking murder scene. I want a direct answer for that at least and Szayel isn't telling me shit."

A longer groan echoed from the other end and was followed by another soft squeak as the woman seated herself on the bed. "Look, after that whole battle and extermination… he did take a hit or two; they're not serious, it just took some time to stop the bleeding… we did make a mess of your porch though, I can get Starrk to paint it over later on though."

"So… while I was out dancing and getting drunk at some high-end shindig… you guys went out, spilled some blood, caused a lot of trouble and screwed up my front porch?"

"Yes."

"Well then yeah, you better be getting out here soon enough to paint over that mess- I don't want the neighbors getting suspicious."

"It'll be done by this afternoon, don't worry." Harribel chuckled as she leaned back in the bed and rested part of her body on top of the still relaxing man. She moved one hand to ruffle through his disarranged brown locks as she fitted the cellphone against her shoulder. "How did your party go anyways?"

She shrugged lightly to herself and moved to fiddle around with a few miscellaneous objects nearby. "It was fun, they had a wine booth which was the highlight of my evening. Me and the Quincy ditched out about halfway through and went back to his place for some more fun, but that was about it."

"Sounds like you."

"Pft, maybe…" Cirucci shrugged. "Well I mean… it just felt different this time, you know."

"Because you might just actually love him?"

"Actually I was thinking more on the lines that all those scars on his back belong to me and I find them kind of sexy in some way… but we could go with your reasoning too."


	37. Chapter 37

She really shouldn't. It was a stupid idea but… fuck it, she had to know the details.

The back of her knuckles rapped harshly against his bedroom with enough volume that she was certain to wake him if he had somehow managed to fall asleep in the small amount of time from their last encounter. She paused just long enough to listen for something or any kind of movement inside, only to hear the response of silence; provoking her to knock even louder this time around.

"I'm not talking to you."

His five word response didn't please her in the smallest sense as she moved her hands to balance on her hips. "Really? Are we going to have to act like children right now?"

"This wouldn't be the case if you would just leave me alone." he called back.

"This is a serious matter, and I need to know what the fuck just happened." she started. "Harribel said-"

"That should be enough information for you then."

An aggravated sigh escaped her as she rubbed at her temples before she moved to kick aside the bedroom door; unsure if it had actually been locked in the first place or not… if so, then she probably just broke the lock and might have to replace it. Details, details. "Damnit Granz! I'm going to get an answer even if I have to beat it out of you!"

* * *

"Why are we going over there again?"

Harribel sighed lightly and looked over to the dark-haired man behind the wheel; her fingertips already lightly tangled in the thick curls that ran down the back of his neck. "Because we have to paint over the front porch before someone notices."

He glanced over at her from the corner of his eye before he moved his attention back to the road. "But it's already like two in the afternoon, I'm sure plenty of people have already noticed it."

"Still, hopefully no one went in for a closer look on it." she replied. "And if we see any police cars parked out front, just keep on driving by. We don't want them to know that we just dropped by to cover up all the evidence."

A chuckle escaped him as he eventually eased the vehicle around the next corner and spotted the house in sight; no police cars thankfully. "Is there any other reason we're dropping by though? You seem to be… a little anxious about something."

For a man who always seemed to act fairly lethargic, he was quick when he needed to be. "I guess you could say I got a little 'worried' if that's a word you want to use."

"Is it because of what happened last night?"

"A little bit of that and the fact that Cirucci wasn't aware of it when it happened. Or even knew about the plans really." Harribel nodded. "I guess I had forgotten to inform her about it but ever since she got herself involved with that Quincy character… we can't risk anything getting out. He already said he'd prefer to not be in on the information and said that he wouldn't want to risk our safety but… there are still Shinigamis out there who view him as a formable ally. It's a connection he can't necessarily break and if one of them overhears anything Cirucci might tell him, it's game over; our advantage of giving out ambushed hits is taken away. And that's not the only thing we risk losing."

"So what? We cut her out of the picture?" Starrk questioned; eventually pulling the vehicle up the driveway. The outside of the house looked sane enough… nothing quite murderous-looking yet but then again he couldn't spot the porch clearly from here.

"No, I mean we can keep her informed but not to an extend… I don't know, it still feels weird to cut someone out; we don't have anyone else but each other and we can't risk losing one of us." Harribel replied with a light shrug. She waited for the car to come to a complete stop before she pushed the door aside and stepped out. So far so good. She let the man cut the engine while she worked her way towards the front door. Well… Cirucci wasn't kidding about the blood everywhere… his injury must've been a bit worse than she thought. She didn't bother knocking and pushed the front door aside anyways. "Hey, you two haven't killed each other yet, have you?" she called as she took a few steps inside before her eyes landed on the small spill of blood that smeared down the opening corridor. "I guess that answers my question…"

"This porch doesn't seem all too bad; it'll probably take a few layers but nothing I can't do in two hours or less." Starrk called from outside before he moved in through the doorway after her. "Where are they at?"

She shook her head and pushed herself to follow down the long corridor. "At this point, it could be anywhere and everywhere. You take upstairs, I'll search down here."

He started to question her motive before he managed to glance into the living area just long enough to notice the disarranged furniture in the large room; a quiet sigh escaping him as he eventually moved himself to take the stairs. "Can't those two stay calm for thirty minutes?"

"Oh you know how they get sometimes."

* * *

"Alright, so which one of you is going to tell me in detail what exactly happened here?"

"I was only acting out of concern and he tried to choke me out."

"Yeah, after you had already nailed me several times in my side; and for corrective purposes, I did choke you out."

Harribel sighed briefly to herself as she listened to the two instantly go back into bickering at one another's throats; for a moment, she would've gladly traded places with Starrk and would've preferred to be painting over the stairs instead. "Calm down you two or else I'm going to put you into a greater world of pain." she interrupted; watching as the two took mild heed of her words but didn't silence themselves easily. "We'll start with Cirucci first since she was the last person I talked to."

The purple-haired woman kept an ice pack pressed against part of her swelling jawline in hopes to keep it from getting too severe; fuck, if she was going to meet with the Quincy later, she couldn't have an enlarged jawline hinting that something had happened. Then again, the black rings around her neck weren't going to be all too easy to hide either. "Well, after you hung up on me, I decided to go check in on Granz here to see if I couldn't get any more details out of this whole mess. I asked politely because I wanted to know what the hell went on behind my back, especially since you wouldn't answer shit for me. Well, when he denied that request, I figured since I remembered you telling me he got hit, if I could find that injury then I could use it against him. So, I kicked down his door and maybe got a little rough with him. The argument made its way downstairs, we wrecked some furniture, got the floors dirty and he ripped my shirt."

Nodding along with the woman's story, she turned back to the other man when she was finished. "And… what's your side, Szayel?"

"Well… she got most of it right up until the 'got a little rough' part." he started; one hand keeping a towel pressed tightly against his right side. There was a stain of blood making its way through the thin material as the wound continued to be ever so persistent with its bleeding tendency. At least the pain was a bit more bearable this time. "She kicked open my door when I was putting a new shirt on and proceeded to punch me repeatedly in the stomach; as a natural instinct, I punched her back and that's when things went downhill. To be honest, I don't even know how we ended up down here in the first place; I'm guessing we fell down the stairs or one of us got pushed, I don't correctly remember. But, it did end up with her rupturing the stitches I had put in place and splitting the wound open again; and I did put my hands around her neck and waited until she stopped moving- unfortunately I passed out before I could make sure she stopped breathing as well."

"Fuck you."

"My feelings exactly."

"You two are really quite a pair." Harribel muttered to herself as she rubbed at the empty space between her eyes. "Well, it seems like the only thing going accordingly today is Starrk actually painting over the blood out front. Everything else has gone to hell."

"Well maybe it wouldn't if someone would tell me why exactly this happened behind my back." Cirucci remarked. "I didn't know shit about what was going on up until this morning, so why the hell have I been cut from all communications?"

"Because you brought in a goddamn third party member." Szayel snapped back to her. "We were all perfectly fine with this matter until you just had to involved with that Quincy. You know very well that he could still be connected to the Shinigamis or even that the Society itself is keeping an eye on him. You know that, and since you went through with it anyways, you compromised everything. We can't risk having you slip something on the word of tongue just because you forgot that he actually gives a shit about what you have to say-"

"Oh, so now all of this is my fault?" she fired in retaliation as she pushed herself off the counter.

"Hey, hey!" Harribel interrupted as she intervened between the two; keeping one hand tangled in the woman's shirt. "Look, that's not true; things happened quicker than we thought and we had to act on impulse- we didn't have time to call you up and let you know what happened. We couldn't risk alerting anyone of this, so we moved in with a small group of people and wiped out the problem; if it had been a greater number then we would've been detected; if we had used some kind of communicative device, then we would have been detected. You know how sensitive these cases can be."

"Yeah but I wasn't aware it was going to turn everyone against me." Cirucci replied as she pulled herself free from the woman's grip. "I'll be upstairs if anyone needs me."

She watched as the purple-haired woman left without so much of another word or glance; disappearing from sight as she quickly exited the kitchen. A quiet sigh escaped her before she turned back to the remaining figure; watching as he peeled the towel away to reveal the long horizontal cut that split through part of his side, just underneath the ribcage. "Is it bad?"

"It's bleeding a lot and there's a lot more bruising now but I should be able to stitch it back together by the end of the hour." he answered. "And for the sake of having the last word, you know as well as I do about this situation and its hazards."

"That may be true but while the line between enemy and ally is visibly apparent, that doesn't mean it can't easily be blurred just the same. Let's try to keep an open mind about this whole matter."


	38. Chapter 38

"Where did you get those scratches on your neck?"

He briefly shook his head at the man's question and tried to keep focus on the scolding water that rushed over his forearms. The surgery had gone on well enough with little to no complications and the nurses were rolling the patient back into his room at this very moment. But the last thing he needed was for the blonde-haired man to be questioning him right now- or even being around him. "I probably ran into something last night, I didn't even notice them until you pointed them out."

"Well… where did you go last night? I didn't see you at the end of the party."

"Because I have far more important things to do than just stand around and drink wine." Ishida answered as he switched off the faucet and reached for the towel that hung nearby. "I don't even like those kind of events and what does it matter if I left early or not?"

"Oh, don't let him give you a hard time; Blondie here had to leave early himself when he made himself sick off the free wine." Milianne chuckled as she briefly paused in the doorway; a fresh new set of folders in her hand. "Other than that, the rest of the evening was pretty eventless and the parking lot cleared out a bit easier than I imagined. No one got hit, but there were some cars that decided to… stay behind for a little while. You'd think with the kind of people who were flooding this place, they'd think to go some place a bit nicer, or at least one that offered more privacy."

"You could trace shapes into the steamed up windows." Albert added.

Drying off his skin, he tossed the towel afterwards and watched as it half landed in the nearby waste bin. "What exactly makes you think I want to listen to all of these stories exactly? Like I want to hear the 'who did what' in the parking lot, or anything else revolving around steamy windows. I try to stay out of the business of certain aspects of the hospital, and I'd really much rather avoid anyone who's going to end up in the maternity ward by the end of the year, alright?"

"Well then what else are we suppose to talk about?" Albert questioned. "And you won't answer the thing about the scratches so-"

"They look like nails-"

"Can we put this whole matter aside now? The party was last night, this is the next day, I think it's about time we just let the whole thing drop. At least now we have control back over the hospital and we won't have to deal with fallen heels and loosened buttons." Ishida interrupted; grabbing his jacket from where it had been hung a few hours before. Slipping into it, he moved to push past the two of them and emerged back into the hallway. "Now, is there anything else I need to deal with today? Last time I checked, there was nothing on schedule asides from the previous surgery; there were no appointments or anything else but I'll stay around if I'm needed."

"Something else going on outside of work?" Milianne asked.

"Uh yeah, some personal things came up suddenly and… I gotta deal with it before it gets out of hand." he slowly answered in half-truth, well not even that. It was a blatant lie and nothing else past that. "As much as I'd like to avoid it though, it'd be best to get it out of the way while I still can."

The older woman's brow wrinkled when her eyes narrowed. "Is it serious?"

Why? Why did people always want to ask follow up questions? It just made it more difficult to keep up with the dishonesty. "Not really, it's more of an annoyance than anything else. I'd just be doing myself a favor by taking it head on right now. But if there's anything that you need from me, I have no problem postponing it as well."

"I think we'll be able to handle everything from here, if something comes up we can always call you." Milianne assured.

"She'll just be listening to the radio all day." Albert remarked.

"And Blondie here will be tending to his wine-soaked stomach."

"Yeah, yeah, you guys have fun." he called behind him as he continued on his way out into the leading corridor. Dropping by his office for a brief moment, he collected the few things he had brought in with him and continued on his way out. He checked his phone out of sheer habit and had to take a second glance to the flashing note of ten missed calls… not exactly something he wanted to deal with right now. Well, it depended on whom they were from. One from Tatsuki and nine from Cirucci. Okay, so he kind of expected the ones from Cirucci and thank Gods she didn't leave a voice message because he probably didn't want to know what it would've said anyways. But from Tatsuki? What did she want? He would just… have to call her back later. For now, he'd have to see what Cirucci wanted.

Stepping out into the parking lot, he redialed her number and waited for an answer from the other line; busying himself with getting his keys loose from his jacket pocket. He was halfway through unlocking the driver side door when the other line clicked with a pick up, nearly causing himself to drop the phone off his shoulder. "I remember telling you this morning that I had a surgery planned, what else do you want from me?"

"Actually, to be honest, I forgot. I guess I shouldn't have said all those horrible things about you when you didn't pick up." she answered. "No hard feelings now."

"Uh… yeah, I guess so. But really, you had to call nine times?"

"I was going to make for a tenth call but Tia wanted something and I didn't remember to bring my phone with me. I'm guessing you're through now though."

"Yeah, lucky it went by pretty easily with no complications; the patient's expected to make a full recovery soon enough." he replied. "Albert wouldn't leave me alone about those scratches you left on my jaw though."

A light chuckled played her on the other side. "You should be glad he didn't see the ones I left on the rest of your body; you got lucky at that."

"I'd be more worried with why someone was seeing the rest of me like that." he remarked

"Well… maybe you should bring yourself back on home, I want to reacquaint myself with those scratches."

* * *

She was either skillfully manipulative or he was just becoming easier and easier with every passing of words. Actually, the answer to that was already a given. Still, the thought of being near her again was enough to leave that fluttering effect in his chest.

Leaving the car turned off and parked in the driveway, he worked his way up the front walk to the doorway and went to unlock the door- only to find it opened anyways. Really? If she was going to break into his house like this, the least she could've done was lock the door behind her. Maybe he was asking too much from it but he didn't want anyone snooping inside, that is if someone just happened to be wondering by and decided this place was the perfect area to do so. Or maybe he was just paranoid about that kind of thing.

"I'd appreciate it if you locked the door after yourself." he called out; closing the door tightly behind him before turning the lock until it clicked. "I know you like to live your life reckless and such, but I prefer to be a bit more… cautious."

"Only you would pay attention to such details when a lady breaks into your house for the sole purpose of having a bit more raunchy time." she replied; stepping out from the kitchen with a new cup of tea in hand. She watched as he slowly removed his jacket from his shoulders before he placed it on the coat hook nearby; hands moved to slip off his tie next as he hung it up in the same place.

He glanced up at her answer and watched the way she carefully stirred whatever was in the cup in hand. Her slender form was dressed in a long, purple sweater that fell along the curves of her upper thighs- and much like her, she chose not to wear jeans or leggings underneath; opting to expose her long legs in the revealing outfit. It wasn't all too much of a difference in clothing from this morning, in terms of bearing skin or at least bearing legs but... it was an odd outfit of choice. With the slight heat outside, it seemed odd to wear a sweater as such but she didn't seem all too bothered by it. "Raunchy time? Really? You couldn't be a bit more… descriptive or at least proper with the phrasing?" he remarked.

She softly rolled her eyes before she tossed the spoon aside onto the nearest counter. "I'm going to kill you, I swear by it."

A light chuckle escaped him at the response. "Well, then you can kill me after I tell you that you're losing those cute cues of being awkwardly, and forcefully romantic. Now you're just being creepy and I don't feel safe anymore."

"You shouldn't have felt safe from the beginning." She shrugged; watching as he moved on towards her before he walked past her instead. Subconsciously, she tugged lightly at the purple turtleneck she had grabbed just before she left the house and tried not to seem so pressed about the bruising that had only worsened around her neck. It would die down in a few hours but would take days before it smoothed over; she didn't own all too many shirts that would cover her neck- maybe she should look into getting some kind of choker of some sort, she was bound to have one laying around. But it'd be awkward to take a choker into the bedroom; or maybe that'd just be kinky. Turning with him, she moved to lean against the counter as she watched him draw a cup from the overhead cabinet. "So tell me all about the Hell everyone in the office gave you."

He shook his head and moved to pour a cup of the fresh tea on the stovetop. "I don't even want to talk about it. I had to lie to them about leaving early just so they'd leave me alone about they whole thing; I'm a terrible liar at that so I'm surprised that they believed me, but I'll more than likely forget what I had told them and be clueless when they question me about it."

"Oh don't worry, just tell them I got rough with you and knocked you around a bit so it made a hassle of your memories."

"Yes, because that will definitely work."

"Okay, then tell them about how I seduced you and enjoyed running my nails down your skin with almost too much enthusiasm." she offered as she brought her cup to her lips; taking in the warmth of it first as she watched him shake his head again.

"On second thought, I'll just deal with a mixed up web of white lies; that sounds a lot safer for my reputation."


	39. Chapter 39

She remembered taking the cup out of his hands and placing it on the counter behind him; choosing to be a bit more soft with her instigation as she pulled him away with gentle tugs and sinful eyes.

Now, how they got all tangled up and comfortable on the couch in the next room was a bit more of a mystery. The details of getting there were blurry and skewed but they didn't really seem to matter at the moment. After all, they were here now and there was no sense in wasting precious time with useless details. All that really counted was the heat of his hands as they tangled in the material of her dress and gently grasped at the width of her hips. She enjoyed tugging at his shirt and bringing him down closer as her fingers wrinkled the soft material of his collar.

She was personally in the process of lightly skimming her lips against the warm curve of his neck when she felt that ever-slight pull on the collar of her turtleneck; it had just enough force to pull it down maybe half an inch, but that was really all it needed to go down for.

"What is this?"

Fuck. "Uh… what is what?" she questioned; although already knowing well what he meant with it. With the way she was slightly leaned up against him, it gave a downward view inside of the turtleneck and exposed a hint of the bruising. It was only one more tug and the black line around her neck was exposed; of course, there was no other way to try and defend it or even hide it. "… Yeah, look it's just a really long story."

Needless to say, that was probably the last thing he had expected to see. It was a thick line of broken blood vessels that encircled her slender neck; the flesh around it was pink with a slight swell from pressure. He looked down at her and took note of how she seemed desperate to avoid the whole thing overall. "What happened? Where did you get this?"

A long sigh escaped her as she brought her hands to her face for a moment. "Like, I said, it's a long story that I don't even know the details of. Now, can we just… toss it out and pretend it was never there?"

"How do you not know the details of this?" he pressed. "It looks like someone tried to choke you out."

"Actually, I was choked out and had it been in any other situation, there might've been a hint of humor in it; but I was more pissed off than anything else really." She answered; moving her hands now to brush through her messy strands, pulling them away from her face.

"What?"

"It was a minor altercation at most."

It was taking pretty much every sense of self-control he had to not blow the whole situation out of proportion; or at least not lose himself in the outburst. How could she just seemingly brush off something like that? Why did she seem perfectly okay with someone putting his or her hands around her throat and waiting till she passed out? "A minor altercation doesn't leave someone unconscious and with that much bruising. Believe me, I've seen the results of almost every type of altercation. A minor one, at most, has small bruising on the arms, and scrapes or cuts."

"I hate you doctors."

"Cirucci, I'm serious. What happened?"

Looks like there was no getting around it for her, which put her in a difficult position. Lucky for her. Taking a deep breath, she slowly released it before she reached up and pressed her hands against his jawline. "Alright, but I'll only answer it if you promise to maintain your composure."

"Just tell me."

"Alright, well Szayel and I got into a minor argument when I got home-"

"And he choked you out?"

"Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking or else I'm going to choke you out next." She remarked with a slight frown. "I can't tell you why we argued or what it was about but we did get a little violent and we did both end up passing out for a few minutes; Tia did have to come over and make sure we were still alive. Let me tell you, we almost wrecked the shit out of our house too, I'm pretty sure we're going to have to buy a new couch or at least get the carpet steamed."

"Why can't you tell me?" he pressed.

"Because… it's just… not something I can tell you. I was left out of the dark on it as well, so clearly I was pissed about the whole thing but… look I just can't talk to you about it. Or else it ruins everything."

"What… what kind of thing is it exactly?"

"As easy as that would be for me to answer, I can't risk giving away any one strip of information about it." She answered with a brief sigh in her voice before she pulled him in towards her. "I'm sorry."

He was starting to wonder what exactly she was keeping from him. What if it was serious? Why couldn't she just… say it? What exactly was she risking by telling him, what happened? He guessed there was no sense in questioning it since she wouldn't tell him regardless of what it was anyways. It was just… how important was it that someone had to bruise her neck because of it? The slight buzzing of his cellphone, still trapped in his jacket pocket, caught his attention and pulled it away from their previous conversation. Pulling himself away from her, he moved to get back to his feet and walked back towards the other end of the house. It was probably the hospital, something probably came up and he was needed; at this moment, he actually wouldn't mind going back. It took a few seconds for him to fish it out and he hoped it wasn't one of those instances where he picked it up just as the other line hung up- he really hated it when that happened.

"Yeah? Ishida here."

"Well it's about time you answered, I've been trying to reach you all morning."

Oh Gods. He tried not to make an outward noise and moved to lean against the front door. "Yeah, sorry about that, Tatsuki, I had a surgery scheduled this morning so I was unavailable most of the day."

"That makes sense, I don't know why I didn't think that could be one of the reasons you weren't answering." She admitted. "Anyways, you know, if you're free the rest of the day, Chad and I were thinking of heading out to get lunch or something, you wanna join us?"

"Uh, I don't know-"

"Ishida, come back to bed!"

He sharply looked up to where she was just barely peeking over the top of the couch; that mischievous grin planted on her purple lips. There was no way she was playing this game with him.

"Uhh… do I need to call back at another time?"

"No, no- Cirucci's just immature right now. She's sitting on the couch, I swear." He quickly responded. "Look, uh… yeah, we'll both meet you guys somewhere later. You can just call me again when you have a place in mind."

* * *

"Shouldn't you go to the hospital for that?"

Pulling the needle through once more, he pressed carefully against the half-closed wound to ensure the last stitch was tight before he started in on the next. The tip of the needle pierced through one side of the wound and into the next as he pulled it slowly through again. "And what exactly would I tell them? Yeah, sorry about all the blood, there was a mishap in the garage and I fell on a really sharp blade that came out of nowhere. Better yet, a more believable side, I'll just tell them I did it myself in a failed suicide attempt- although that wouldn't really make sense because the wound isn't in a specific area-"

"I get it." Harribel interrupted as she picked up the mug that had been set down beside her.

He glanced up to where she was seated on the counter before he went back to the homemade stitching job. "Plus, don't you know who works at the hospital in the first place? That just adds to this whole mess of suspicions and messy clean ups. Next time, I'm not getting stuck with Nnoitra again, especially since he doesn't want to take me seriously at all."

"That's Nnoitra for you though." she reminded; sipping at the fresh made cup of coffee before she set it back next to her. "What happened on your side? I know we had to discuss some of it last night but how exactly did it get that far?"

A brief sigh escaped him as he paused in his stitching. "Aaroniero called it in, correct? He reported that there was a new scouting party, who technically weren't supposed to be in this world until next month- they apparently figured out we were on to them and jumped forward with their schedule. So we split into teams and tried to figure out where they were going next so we could plan accordingly despite being caught off-guard ourselves. You and Starrk got the easier side of it and only encountered one of the Shinigami guards after Aaroniero set himself up to be the target bait. The others seem to have gotten a bit wind of the chase and split off into different directions, which is where we were supposed to come in. I'll admit, Nnoitra is still quite brutal even against Shinigami foes but that's not to say that we didn't have some minor help as well."

"... Another one?"

"Yeah, oddly enough." He nodded; resuming the stitching job from before. "Anyways, the first two went down easily enough with the assistance but there was a third one we didn't pick up on until it was too late. That's how I ended up with a bleeding side and unfortunately enough… that one managed to get away from us; I haven't spoken to the others to see if they could get him but I highly doubt it. So that puts us in a horrible position."

"I'll call the others but I have a feeling you might be right." She agreed.

Pushing himself to his feet, he moved across the kitchen and took a dirty rag that had been hung aside a few moments before; wetting it with water from the faucet. He pressed it carefully against the still opened half of the wound and applied the greater amount of pressure to keep the blood flow down. "My original plan was to keep things calm by not unnecessarily rushing out to see what was going on; we should've waited to see what was going to happen first and then base our movements off that. Clearly, that wasn't going to work from the beginning but we should've watched our steps more carefully regardless. Allowing for Nnoitra to get involved was a terrible mistake from the start and it only progressively got worse throughout the night, even though he did take out two of the guards."

"Well, if all this does come back to bite us on the ass, at least it was worth it, right?" Harribel remarked.

"It's all depending." Szayel shrugged.

"Alright, well the front porch is finished, just don't step out there for awhile now." Starrk called as he set aside the half finished paint can and walked in through the house. "So… now what do we do?"

"I would think the best plan of action would be to call everyone over and discuss this matter; we could get everyone's detail on the event and see what happened out there. Because, let's face it, this was one of our worst runs yet since we let ourselves get taken off guard like that." Harribel started. "But I also think that the large crowd of people in one spot would draw attention to us too soon after the event."

"We could just get them to park their cars away from the house; parking them up and down the street to spread the suspicion." Starrk shrugged. "I doubt they'll be that quick to retaliate."

"Perhaps but we should try to keep ourselves on guard regardless." Szayel noted.

He gave a brief nod in understanding before he glanced around the small kitchen and then slightly into the neighboring living room; taking note of the absence of a fourth figure. "What happened to Cirucci? Is she still here?"

"Nah, she left awhile ago." Harribel answered. "How did you not see her leave?"

"You told me to paint the porch not pay attention to who is or isn't leaving the house."

She shook her head and tried not to say anything in response. "Alright, alright, I'll get on the phone and get everyone to come over; Starrk, you can go get a shower in because you smell like sweat and paint; and Szayel, you should finish getting those stitches done before Nnoitra comes over and busts them open again."


	40. Chapter 40

"Do you think Cirucci's going to mind us having everyone over for the night?"

"Nah, she's probably gonna stay with her 'boyfriend' and act like the whore she is."

Harribel watched as the pink-haired man finished taking off the last pot of coffee and set it aside for later usage. Shaking her head, she looked down at the small infant she had nestled tightly in her arms; a blue blanket wrapped carefully around him despite the darker-blue jumper he had on. "Why do you two insist on hating each other?"

"Because it's how we function together." He answered. "Or rather… it's probably the safest way we function. That's like asking Nnoitra why he hates everyone."

"… You know what, forget I asked that." She chuckled before she moved to step back into the living room where a few of the others were sitting. "He's gotten a lot bigger in these past few weeks."

"You say that like I haven't noticed." Nell remarked with her own short chuckle as she glanced over the back of the couch to see where the darker-toned woman was holding the child. "Even now, he looks just like his father- I'm hoping that'll change later on but I doubt it. At least he'll be somewhat good-looking right?"

"I think it'd be safer if I didn't put my commentary in." Harribel teased; glancing up momentarily as the front door opened once more as even more people walked in. So far, there was just Nell, the baby, Aaroniero, Loly and Ulquiorra- they were the first ones she had called and were… fairly quick to get here on time. And just through the door now were Grimmjow and Menoly. "Well, I'm glad you two were able to show up."

"Don't remind me." The blue-haired man grumbled; clearly not very happy about the sudden call to arms. "Just what is this all about anyways? Look, the shit that happened yesterday is over and we're still here, what else is there to talk about?"

"How about we start with whether or not you can actually think ahead and see the faults in the planning of last night?" Szayel retorted just as sharply. "Even better, if you opened those eyes of yours, you might be able to see just where that kind of faulty shit can put us."

Menoly gave a roll of her eyes and moved to shove the man ahead; turning her attention to the other woman. "You'll have to excuse him, he had an overdose of testosterone today."

"Yeah, I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of that today." Harribel sighed; stepping aside as the two moved to pick a place on the couch to sit. She briefly glanced down at the sound of soft cooing and watched as the child eventually shifted awake; tiny hands reaching out above him. "I think it's about time someone went back to his mother."

"Nah, you can keep him." Nell replied.

A thick sigh escaped him as he moved to pour himself a cup of the fresh coffee; figuring he would need it to deal with the chaos that was bound to happen by the end of the hour. Actually, in order to fully deal with that, he'd have to have a tranquilizer of some sort and pour it into everyone else's drinks first; instant calm and relaxing evening. But, unfortunately, that was illegal… and he didn't have any tranquilizers at the moment. He turned and watched as Harribel continued to play with the child for a little longer before she eventually handed him back to Nell; what was the kid's name again? Nero? Something like that?

Alright, so currently they had ten members here; Nnoitra was out back smoking while Starrk was… well doing who knows what; Nell and Harribel were still playing with the baby; Aaroniero and Loly seemed less than interested about the whole thing, as did Ulquiorra but he always had that look about him anyways; and Grimmjow and Menoly were seemingly bickering back and forth between each other, which was nothing new. Who else did that leave then?

Well, Zommari was out of town for the week on business; Yammy didn't answer the phone call, so there was less of a chance that he would be showing up… actually he was probably out of town just the same; and Barragan had moved out of the city a long time ago, so there was no sense in counting him in anymore- thank the Gods. So, by all accounts it would seem like mostly everyone was here… they just needed to actually get into one room and collect their thoughts without slaughtering one another, which was near impossible. Fuck, he hoped they wouldn't have to visit the hospital again, like last time. That was just a pure hassle no one wanted to deal with, it was just a bunch of bullshitting around and making up lies to answer the onslaught of questions; it would've been easier just to tell them the truth but then the police would've gotten involved because of possible gang-related activity.

So, the good old 'flipped my car into a ditch' story had to do.

"Are we about ready to get this whole thing started?" Aaroniero questioned.

"Yeah, just let me… try and find something sharp to stab myself with." Szayel replied.

"If you find a second one, throw it my way."

* * *

"So where are we going?"

He looked over to the woman once more and watched as she propped both of her arms over the back of the couch; that grin still ever so persistent as though to confirm her innocence. "I'm not taking you anywhere after that."

"Oh come on, that was a hilarious joke; everyone does it."

"And I'm sure everyone keeps a secret about how someone choked them out too." He remarked; watching as her grin was suddenly quick to disappear. "… That was just Tatsuki, she wanted to know if we wanted to go out some place with her and Chad."

"Well, not anymore."

"Look… alright, yes my remark was a little uncalled for but my perspective on the whole thing is a lot different from yours, at least you have a clue about what happened with it; I just get to have fun making guesses." He started before a semi-defeated sigh overtook him. "… Here, I'll just call Tatsuki back, cancel the plans and we can both pretend this never happened, right?"

She gave a light roll of her eyes and pulled herself over the back of the couch, careful of how she managed her legs in the motion. Walking back towards him, she grabbed the phone from his hand and held it out of his reach when he went to retrieve. "Look, here's what we're going to do instead. You're going to drive me back to my place, where I'm going to find something more… appropriate to wear and you're going to get Tatsuki back on the phone; she's bound to have a place already in mind so when she answers your question of where to go, we're going to meet them there. And we're going to act like none of this happened while we're in front of them, agreed?"

"Why do we always have to make a big deal out of small things?"

"Because it makes us difficult and for about ten minutes every day we get to hate each other's guts; now come on, I have to drop back by the house and pick up some leggings or something." She remarked as she tugged lightly on his collared shirt.

"Wait, why do I have to drive? Where's your car?"

"Questions, questions, details, details."

**XXX**

The sight of the two-story house once more only brought back some minor bad memories of the last time he was here; there was the fight but his major problem right now was that he really didn't want to run into Szayel again. Maybe he could just stand outside while she went inside to get dressed, or just stay in the car even.

"Come on, you have to take me inside."

Why did it seem like she was reading his mind right now?

"Uh… no, that's quite okay." He started. "I'll just stay in the car-"

She gave a soft roll of her eyes from where she was half-leaning back into the car. While the look of reluctance was pure on his face, she wasn't going to let him just... sit out here. After all, she had other plans for them this evening. "Oh stop being difficult and come with me."

Why did he have to go inside with her? It wasn't like she was going to get lost or anything; it was her own house anyways. And who said that he was the one being difficult? It just seemed more appropriate that he waited out here while she... went off and did whatever it was that she needed to do. But, with her unfortunately, there was never a winning battle for him. Sighing briefly, he cut the engine and stepped out of the vehicle; walking up the driveway with her, he mentally braced himself for whatever could be on the other side of the front door.

She had completely forgotten about the staircase until she was already halfway up them; she made a mental note to thank Starrk for handling the paint job decently enough, the blood stains from before were no longer apparent... of course now the newer paint spots stuck out more vividly against the older layers. Well, they were going to have to repaint the front of the house again eventually anyways. Finishing the rest of the short steps, she headed forward and pushed open the front door; giving a small glance over one shoulder. "Come on Quincy, you're being a little slow moving today."

"You can probably tell that I'm not exactly thrilled to be back here again." He replied, although he only trailed a few steps behind her.

"Oh don't worry, we should be safe; the other three are probably gone by now and if they're not, they won't bother you." She assured as she waited for him to eventually come a bit closer to her before she managed to grab him by the hand; using it to pull him through the doorway just before she closed the door right behind him. "Hey, what do you say… you come upstairs to my room and help me pick out something else to wear?"

See, this was the kind of thing he knew she was going to pull on him.

"We're planning on meeting up people later, and after your last stunt, I don't think we can afford to be late." He answered, although he still moved to rest his hands on her hips. It was more for a security risk just in case he had to push her away from him.

She gave a light shrug as though that was supposed to fill the space of a reasonable answer. "Just call her back and tell her we had car problems, or that traffic was bad or the hospital made a last minute call… we have plenty of options at our fingertips; we just have to make a choice on which one we want." She reminded; wrapping her fingers around his wrists for a moment as she tugged him forward. "Now come on, there's a whole closet full of things we could go through, I mean it might take us who knows how long to go through all of it."

"We're not playing this innuendo game." He remarked as he pulled her back. "In fact, I'm just going to stay down here while you go get dressed upstairs, alright?"

"Why do you always make things so difficult for me?"

"Because it's just safer that way."

She shook her head lightly but gave into his weak demand. Moving to grab him by the hand once more, she pulled him further down the opening hallway. "Alright fine, you win this round... for now; you can wait in the kitchen though and get a drink or something- I might take a slight while."

Personally, he thought she was just making up excuses to further persuade him into her idea, which as tempting as it was… just wasn't cut out for a moment like this, where they had other plans. But, if it would make things run a bit more smoothly, he would do whatever else it was she wanted him to do- with the exception of the original idea. "Just remember we do have an arrangement to get to."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll remember, I know how it goes-" the sentence partially died on her lips as they stepped into the viewing of the living room, which wasn't quite as empty as she last remembered it. The house had nearly been pitch quiet; she assumed they were alone… but the small group of people seated just in front of them proved otherwise. Everyone else seemed just as equally cringing at their dual appearances, as though they were hoping not to be spotted either.

There was the almost revolting sense of awkward silence where both parties desperately wanted to ignore and forget that the other one was even present right now.

"On second thought, Quincy… go wait outside in the car…"


	41. Chapter 41

Yeah…

Yeah, he was definitely going to go wait outside in the car. Like he wanted to in the first place.

For once, it was a little easier to pull himself away from her side as he moved to separate himself from the equally quiet crowd. It felt like daggers were pressing themselves into his back during his departure and lingered even long after he closed the front door behind him. Part of him wanted to try and calmly brush it off, the other part wanted to panic and give into the sudden sense of nausea that flooded through him.

Of all the things… he had just hoped that she had been lying about that all along.

He had lingered on the seemingly false sense of hope that maybe only a small handful had managed to slip into this world; that maybe, the most he would have to deal with was her and Szayel and… uh, Tia as well. If it had just stayed with the three of them, then it would be much easier to avoid the whole situation but there was a roomful in there; fuck, he almost wished he could've gotten some kind of headcount on them or something...

There were a few he could recognize straight off though…

Asides from Szayel and Harribel, he recognized the former Fourth Espada, Ulquiorra- he still retained the scars from their previous altercation; there was a black-haired, pigtailed Arrancar he had only briefly caught a glimpse of before, but he didn't know what her name was. For once, he almost regretted not keeping up on the names and faces of the Arrancars… but it wasn't like he was expecting them to be back again. The fact that they were all in the same area once more though, that was a little unnerving; what exactly were they up to in there? Whatever it was, they didn't seem all to happy to see either of them- well he could understand not wanting to see him but… what about Cirucci? She was just like them, although… did it have something to do with what she was trying to mention before? Some kind of story that she couldn't tell him but didn't really even know it herself?

Shit, why couldn't things just stay simple?

Why couldn't they just leave his place and go to wherever it was that Tatsuki wanted to go, without any trouble whatsoever? Oh yeah because this whole matter had been complicated from the start. Still though, this felt like it was pushing it a bit.

The ringing of his phone in his pocket momentarily pulled his attention away from the given situation and forced him to clear his mind a bit before he answered it. "Yeah, I'm still here."

"I know we just hung up on each other, but I think Chad and I decided that we wanted to go to that new bar on the end of Takuro Street; they just opened a few weeks ago and from what I've heard it's a pretty good place."

Great. First, it was a house full of… Arrancars and now Tatsuki wanted to take them out to a bar. "Really? A bar?" he repeated, hoping maybe in someway to change her mind about it- although they had only been given the offer to join, so it wasn't like they could be picky with it. "Well… I guess since it is late evening it'd be okay…"

"Oh come on, we can just get one of the booths and sit around for a few hours, no problems." she assured. "Actually, Chad and I were just about to leave right now, so we'll be seeing you and Cirucci in what, ten minutes? Unless you two need more time than that."

"We'll be there in ten minutes." he quickly remarked as he moved to push aside some of his black bangs. "What's up with you and Chad anyways?

"Nothing, he just dropped by the dojo earlier to train for awhile and we decided to step out for a little while. I know you're a doctor and everything but it's not a crime to relax every now and again. And it's certainly not a crime to decide to step out with your friends-"

Okay, okay, he got it. "Alright, I see your point; we'll be there in ten minutes, don't get drunk without us."

"Don't worry, I have a high alcohol tolerance but you probably don't want to hear about that."

"You know what, I'm just going to hang up now."

* * *

She waited patiently enough for the front door to close once more before she turned her attention to the others; she wasn't entirely sure what to feel but she watched as they seemingly glanced around to avoid her. Something was going on and it didn't seem like they wanted her to know about it… well hell, it was probably about something she didn't know about anyways- which wasn't surprising as of lately.

"And what exactly is everyone doing here?" Cirucci questioned as she moved to cross her arms below her breasts.

"Well, it's a bit of a slow beginning to an orgy-" Aaroniero started; moving one hand to ruffle through his black hair before Menoly elbowed him harshly into the soft tissue of his side. "We're just starting with conversations for now before we all move into the 'you're beautiful' stage-'" another hit moved to silence him for good this time.

"You lost your talking privileges." the blonde-haired woman muttered.

"It's okay, I wasn't planning on talking much anyways-"

A soft roll of her eyes followed as the man was hit for a third time before she turned her attention to the pink-haired man not too far from her. He was slightly tilted back in his chair with a small glass balanced in his fingertips; apparently he had finished re-stitching his side, and she guessed she could just rip them back out to get answers. "Well, you're probably the ring leader of this whole thing, so why don't you tell me just what the hell is going on?"

He gave her a light shrug and watched as the motion succeeded in pissing her off in the slightest bit. "You just interrupted us before we could finish our cyanide drinks." he answered in half sarcasm. "We're just discussing a few things here, things you aren't a part of anyways, so you have no real reason to be here. You found your way in, so you can find your way back out."

That was typical of him to give her a snaky response and answer nothing that she asked about. Give it time though… A brief chuckle escaped her as she gave into a slight nod and openly moved her hands to her hips. "You're right, I can find my way back out, and I believe I will. And you know what, while I'm gone, you can all fuck yourselves."

"See, that's what I was saying in the first place."

She was pretty sure either Nell or Harribel was about to get up and stop her but she made a quick note to leave as soon as she could. Forget the stupid leggings, she could just deal with the dress how it was and people could just deal with her legs just the same. Closing the front door tightly behind her, she stormed her way down the front porch and headed back towards his car; wishing he had the engine already started so they could just back out and leave. The last thing she wanted right now was to be dealing with them and whatever it was that they were talking about.

"Get in the car so we can go." she muttered. "I don't even care where we're going anymore."

"Okay good… because Tatsuki wants us to meet her and Chad in a bar-" he started.

"Even better, I could use a really stiff drink right now."

He watched as she moved to push him aside from where he had been leaning against the passenger side door; her stiff composure and tense facial expression said that the meeting inside had not gone all too well for her either. "You know, if you want, I can just call her back and tell her that something else came up."

"No because then she's probably going to think we decided to make ravenous, wild and reckless love in the back seat of your car instead." she retorted; watching as he eventually stepped around the front of the car and moved to the other side. Pulling her door open, she slipped inside and waited for him to drive her far away from this place.

"You're probably right."

She waited for him to get settled back in the vehicle and get it moving out of the driveway before she took heed to her own words. "On second thought, let's go with that plan; I have a lot of unresolved anger I need to get out."

He felt the way she leisurely moved one hand to rest on his leg before she gave a light squeeze as though to bring more notice to her placement. "What uh… what exactly do you plan on doing with that 'unresolved anger?'" he questioned as he pushed her hand aside for the safety of both of them.

"Depends… do you have work early tomorrow?"

"… I do now."

Rolling her eyes once more, she moved her hand to his shoulder instead. "Come on… let's just make a long detour, or better yet, we could go enjoy a few drinks, sneak out through the bathroom and have some fun in the parking lot."

"How about not? How about we just go to the bar, enjoy a few drinks, act like nothing's wrong when we're with Tatsuki and Chad and then when we're back home… we can do whatever." he offered instead; watching as she seemed to nod in agreement. "I meant like we could talk about what we just left behind us. I don't really want to know how your unresolved anger issues are going to work out for me."

"Please don't kill the mood by bringing up that shit from the house." she muttered as fingertips touched at her forehead for a moment. "I don't know what's going on with them and I don't know what the hell they're talking about, and to be honest, I'm not sure if I really care at this point. They can do whatever they want but they better not be surprised if I pull some kind of shit like that on them."

Now was probably not the best time to bring it up… and he wasn't even sure if he wanted to, but there was no other way to get an answer. "All those people in there… is that all of them?"

Shit, he was bound to ask something like that but she had been hoping to push it off for as long as she could. Then again, she hadn't been expecting for the two of them to suddenly run into them whole group like that- talk about an introduction. "No…" there was a brief sense of relief that seemed to pass him for a moment and she felt just a bit of pity for having to break it. "Some of the others are out of town on business."

She just had to add something extra to it. "Why do I get this sudden feeling that I'm completely fucked?" he sighed.

"Well you know, if you pull the car over, I can make an honest phrase out of those words."


	42. Chapter 42

The bar was pretty much how he had imagined it to be. Even though it was new, it still retained a rather smoky appearance and the dim overhead lights only furthered the low vision inside the building; which was something he really needed, even worse vision. The actual bar was pressed in the far end of the room while the rest of it was filled with booths and loose chairs and tables. A few bar waitresses were here or there, flirting with the people at the tables. He could already tell he didn't want to be here, and drinking was probably the last thing he needed to do with work in the morning; yet, the consistent pull on his arm reminded him of the more eager, purple-haired woman at his side. He imagined it was because she was more interested in the drinks than anything else. Or maybe because she wanted to see how many heads she could turn.

Because right now, she was probably setting some kind of record.

"Maybe we should've picked up a pair of stockings before we got here." Ishida remarked.

"You jealous?"

"I think embarrassed is more of a correct word." he started before he felt the force of her elbow sink into part of his abdomen. "Okay… okay, I deserved that one."

She glanced up to him and watched as he pushed up on his glasses subconsciously. "Damn straight you did, now why don't you start acting a bit more exhilarated to be on my arm like this; I'm sure it'll make things better for the both of us."

He rolled his eyes at her remark and tried not to pay all too much attention to her; trying to locate Tatsuki instead. It shouldn't be that difficult right? Just look for a dark-haired woman who looked like she just stepped out of practice and was sitting with a large, fairly dark skinned man; both of whom were apparently here on a purely platonic after work drink. Actually, he guessed that made more sense than he and Cirucci did. Another tug on his arm pulled him into a separate direction as she lead him through the maze of tables and chairs. He guessed she knew where to look in a place like this, where as he probably would've been wondering around lost for quite a bit.

"I see you two finally made it." Tatsuki called as soon as she spotted the two of them.

"Yeah, there was bad traffic out today." Cirucci replied. "You'll have to excuse my outfit, I did have a pair of leggings to go with it but someone here didn't like them."

"That's not true!" he quickly objected as he moved to push her ahead of him; letting her take the first seat across the other two. "I- you'll have to excuse her, we just uh… we got out of a bad situation a few minutes ago."

She wrinkled her nose briefly at his remark, which ruined her joke, before she waited for him to slide in next to her; her hand finding its place against his leg once more. "That does remind me, what's the strongest drink they can legally serve here?"

"Did… something serious happen?" Tatsuki questioned.

"Ha… to be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself."

* * *

"She looked pissed." Grimmjow remarked briefly.

"Well, what do you expect?" Menoly responded as she slammed the back of her hand against his abdomen. "I mean, we are discussing an important matter behind her back, a matter she didn't even have a part in. I wasn't even there but I still knew about the whole fiasco; you guys didn't tell her anything."

"That's different, at least you stayed in the circle and didn't stray out to bang some weird guy." he retorted as he mimicked her same strike.

A loose sigh fell from her lips as Harribel moved to briefly touch at her forehead; trying to figure out a way to make this whole situation a little less… explosive. She wasn't really expecting Cirucci to come back, and she wasn't expecting her to bring the Quincy along as well. If anything, this was probably the last thing he wanted-slash-needed to see. He only knew about three of them… he didn't need to know about all of them so soon; it just made things more complicated. If there was even the briefest chance the woman would come back here, then they'd just have to break down and tell her. She didn't doubt that the woman would be able to keep the whole mess a secret, after all she had so far but… that might cause a strain between her and her… 'boyfriend' perhaps? "Alright, let's just… get back on track to what we were talking about before."

"Something about getting together preparations- don't you think you were a little too harsh on her, Szayel?" Nell answered as she leaned forward slightly to catch a glimpse of the man.

"I don't know, I thought it was right on." Nnoitra shrugged.

He shook his head briefly at the woman. "Look, I'll deal with her later, don't worry; this is usually how we act towards one another anyways. And if anything, that should be payback for knocking out all those stitches from before. She's probably fine with it now."

"I'm sure you guys like to play that buried alive game too."

"Oh we do, it's just difficult to find a box big enough to shove her in."

* * *

"You won't believe who called me the other day." Tatsuki spoke as she swirled the thick beer glass around in hand.

Well, he had a few names he could probably try out but more than likely she had a better answer for it; not to mention, he wasn't really in the mood to guess an answer either. "Well, it wasn't me and I don't really know who else would call you-" the slight kick from underneath the table had the tip of her foot partly digging into his shin. Jeez, he was having terrible luck with women today. "Alright, alright, who was it?"

The black-haired woman merely rolled her eyes in a sarcastic manner. "Well, surprisingly enough, it was Ichigo. I haven't heard from him in a few weeks, he said he was really busy with something and apologized for his absence."

Well hell, if he had known that was going to be the answer, he wouldn't have followed the question. Still, he tried to fake the best expression that he could. "I suppose we shouldn't be surprised by that."

"I don't know, I don't really see him being busy with work or anything." she shrugged lightly as she pressed the edge of the glass against her lips and tilted it upwards for a quick drink. "You, on the other hand, are typically beyond just being 'busy' and more to the brink of impossible to ever get a hold of. That is, unless I was admitted to the hospital."

"Just think then, if you ever find yourself having to be admitted, then you would have my full attention." he remarked.

"I wouldn't say 'full attention.'" Cirucci started as she played with the short umbrella that had been arranged with her drink; fingertips using it to swirl around the dark-purple liquid as it seemed to remain separated from the bright-blue liquor that filled most of the glass. "I mean, he doesn't work with a complete focus of mind sometimes."

Seeing as she personally went straight to the bar to order her drink, he was a little curious and frightened by what it might consist of; he imagined it was probably something to take her mind off the earlier situation but… he really didn't want to carry her home after this, he also didn't want to deal with her being mildly drunk. Especially not in this setting. "I haven't messed up on a patient yet, so you won't have much to worry with." he assured. "Although I'd probably get a lot more done if certain employees didn't insist on wasting my time with trivial matters."

"You should really speak to Albert about that."

"How did you two meet again?" Tatsuki questioned with a brief chuckle.

"I was wondering more of how you two function around one another, because I mean, Ishida isn't exactly the easiest person to get along with." Chad remarked.

Did this really have to be the conversation topic of choice? Well… actually he supposed it was better than speaking about whatever Ichigo wanted. On second thought, it was a difficult decision to make seeing the pros and cons for each discussion. "I have to ask myself how we function properly just the same."

"I could answer but no one probably wants to hear it." Cirucci offered. "But it's a little more complicated than most people think, and it's really quite a wonder how we manage to survive each other. If you take it day by day though, it's a little easier- although an office romance does leave a little more to be desired. And everyone will always be on your case about it, even people you didn't even know worked there. It gets really awkward when people in the front lobby ask for your number though."

"I run into that same problem with people at the dojo."

This was probably one of those times where he wished he could've just gotten up and left. Well, maybe if they just let the women talk then the whole conversation matter could be pushed aside. "Any idea on what Ichigo wanted to talk about?" Ishida questioned as he turned his attention to the other man; watching as he pushed aside the barely touched bottle of beer in front of him. Not that he could really say much, he had yet to even touch the still full glass in front of him.

"He didn't really say all too much to Tatsuki but he called earlier this week and said something about Soul Society." Chad answered with a brief shrug. "Apparently something has them riled up and they asked if he could investigate a few things for them. Unfortunately, he hasn't said all too much on what the problem could be but he said to keep an eye out for anything suspicious… not that he elaborated on what could be suspicious."

"I wonder why the Society would want to get involved." he remarked.

"Who knows, I mean it's not like there have been any Hollow sightings recently…"

He had to agree, it wasn't like he had encountered any active Hollows or even picked up on their energy readings. So, if it wasn't them that had the Society riled up, then what could it be? Actually, it was probably the room full of former Arrancars he had previously ran into at the start of the hour. Now, seeing them just sitting around was enough for him to panic, he couldn't imagine how much panicking the Society was doing. Wait a minute…

"Hey Doctor, what kind of schedule do you have tomorrow?" Cirucci questioned as she lightly bumped her elbow against his arm to get his attention. "Tatsuki and I want to meet up again but if you two are busy then we can just entertain ourselves."

It was at that one moment that he realized what exactly was going on.


	43. Chapter 43

**A/N: I forgot to note earlier but... the story's over forty chapter and in my head, I can't say that I know when the ending is going to come. I have it all planned out but with everything I added earlier, it's going to take a little longer than expected. I think I'm prepared for it though. I think. Thank you kindly for the reviews.**

"We'll catch up with you guys later- if you want to drop by the hospital tomorrow, I get off at seven!"

He made up some kind of fake story about having to be at the hospital early in the morning, which was true but he might've scrubbed the time an hour or three. As much as he was enjoying the time out and catching up on the times… there were a few other matters he had to take care of first. She didn't seem to object to it and left with him easily, although partly having to cling to his arm; she didn't entirely seem drunk, maybe a little tipsy but completely coherent when speaking. Her and Tatsuki seemed to have hit it off pretty well and were already setting up plans for another get together. He wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that just yet but decided it wouldn't hurt to let her get to know his circle of friends. For now anyways.

"Well, you know, seven isn't the only thing I get off on-"

"Cirucci please… can you wait until we're in the car, or at home at least." he requested as he pulled her through the rest of the bar in hopes of making it out into the parking lot. A few of the… other male patrons had turned at the remark and he could hear them chuckling lightly behind them about it. He really shouldn't have let her finish off that entire drink, that was his first mistake- actually, the first mistake might've been agreeing to step out into a bar from the start.

She shook her head and chuckled at his expense; waiting for the two of them to step out into the parking lot at least before she'd bring anything up. "So, what were you and the other guy talking about? It sounded interesting."

"That's a word for it."

"Alright, well then tell me."

"Nah, I imagine that by the time you fall asleep tonight, you won't remember anything in the morning." he replied; fighting to get his car keys out of his pocket. He ended up ordering a glass of water earlier and didn't even touch his other drink, so there was no problem with him driving tonight. "So I might as well save my breath."

She chuckled to herself and tugged on the loose material of his sleeve. "You're no fun when you're sober. Now come on, I highly doubt you guys were talking about rugged 'man' stuff; I didn't hear any mentions of other women, or anything about breasts or… you know, sports I guess."

Shaking his head, he pulled his keys loose and moved to unlock the passenger side door. "How about I talk about it when we get back to my place, alright? Actually, now that the subject's up, do I take you back to your place or-"

"I'll just go home with you." she interrupted. "I don't even know if my house is still standing and to be frank, I don't want to know."

"Makes sense to me." he nodded as he pulled open the passenger door and helped her inside; feeling the brief tug on his shirt as she slightly pulled him in after her. The warm graze of her lips against his own partly drew in his attention before he moved himself away from her. "Like I said… just wait until we get home."

"So no parking lot fun?" she teased as she released him from her grip.

"I'd rather not have to go into the hospital tomorrow with a police statement against public indecency and disturbance of the public peace."

Chuckling, she let him go and watched as he slammed the car door closed before he made his way around to the other side of the car. One hand moved to ruffle through her thick locks as she smiled lightly to herself; she wonder how much longer she was going to have to keep this game up with him. How much longer was she going to have to pretend that she didn't know what he was figuring out?

Shaking her head, she waited for him to move into the vehicle before she leaned over and placed her hand against the inside of his leg. "Always looking out for your reputation, aren't you Doctor? Well I guess you're just going to have to drive fast, Quincy- or at least drive faster than me."

**X**

He shook his head as he was forced to bring her inside in somewhat of a bridal style carry, finding himself still uncomfortable with how much skin his hands were touching on her legs. Her dress was still acceptable by public law but personally… he felt it to be a bit inappropriate- maybe he was just too modest with the way he dealt with clothing. There was a slight pull as her arms tightened around his neck and pulled him down towards her; bringing her lips against the curve of his jawline once more. She just really didn't want to wait, or she didn't have the patience to wait, either or. Great, because making a scene out in front of his house was really something to use to improve the neighborhood value.

"Cirucci, do you mind? I don't want my neighbors to get the wrong impression of me."

"Do you even know who your neighbors are?" she questioned.

"Uh… well no."

She chuckled and moved her hand to cup his cheek as she pulled him in towards her once more. "Then what does it matter? I don't bother with our neighbors and they've caught me doing some very, very odd things. I won't go into details but I can tell you they don't really bother with asking questions or calling the police anymore."

He was not surprised by that in the least bit. "But I am sure that they're probably telling themselves how nice the neighborhood used to be until you came along." making his way to the front door, he was glad he kept his keys out for once… although he was wondering how he would unlock it. Maybe if he kind of shifted one shoulder down and moved her legs over, he could- no wait, yeah he got it unlocked. Pushing the door aside, he brought her inside and shouldered the door closed behind them. "Alright, well I think you should probably go down for the night. I don't know what you were drinking earlier, but I think you might've had too much."

"Nah, I have a decent tolerance for alcohol." she assured. "Now, my tolerance for attractive doctors… that one's different. And incredibly low."

"I have to be at work in the morning." he reminded as he turned a few of the lights on after they passed through the rooms. "And they were already questioning me about the scratches you left on my jaw."

"Yeah but I trimmed my nails earlier so you won't have to worry about that. Now come on, don't play hard to get with me…" she purred; bringing her leg up slightly now to press against his cheek. "Just drop me off at your bedroom and you can come join me when you're less… clothed."

Shaking his head, he carried her down the opening corridor and turned into the another hallway that would take them to his bedroom; not that he was really going to give her what she wanted, but at least put her somewhere… where she wouldn't fall and hit anything. "I'm beginning to think that this whole ideal of… you and I was a terrible thought process."

"Me too. I mean, you're far too modest for my taste; you're one of those strict, rule-followers and you hardly think outside of the box." she agreed, fingertips lightly brushing aside her dark bangs. "Not to mention your job is so time-consuming, we don't really have any time to bond outside of work, unless you want to count now. And even then, you don't want to use your time on me."

A light chuckle on the end of her words hinted that she was merely toying with him as he pushed through the bedroom door next, not bothering with the lights this time. "Yes and you are far too immature and flashy for me; you're also kind of needy and this habit with drinking, I think that's just going to be the death of both of us. Also, you have this beauty mark on the inside of your leg that looks really weird and I don't like it."

She felt her body slowly being pressed into his mattress as he tried to set her down as best he could. One leg lightly hooked onto his waist as fingers played with the loose collar of his shirt; pulling him down slightly to keep him with her. "We are incredibly shallow people, aren't we?"

"I wouldn't say shallow, I'd just say we're human and there is no other excuse for us."

* * *

That was the last time he was going to let her convince him against his better judgment.

Gods, if he thought she was rough the first time, he was terribly wrong. That must've been her 'unresolved anger' coming out for no reason that was connected to him- or at least he hoped it wasn't connected to him, because if it was, he didn't have a chance. She assured him that she was just going to drive back to her place to get a new outfit for work- after a joint morning shower; she might be late but he'd just have to look over it and not act surprised when they get to work.

Still, his neck was killing him after how rough she wanted to get.

He had a hard enough time trying to turn his head, so reading reports and going through patient files sure as hell didn't help him much. And she lied about trimming her nails, they were still as sharp as the time before with the exception that she preferred to scrape the back of his shoulders instead. Which he guessed was a little better since they weren't visible… he just had to make sure not to wear a white shirt into work today or be forced to wear his jacket all day. Unfortunately enough, it was going to be a busy day as well, so his sore neck was going to be a big problem for him. He didn't have any surgeries, but it was the patients he was more worried for instead. Well as long as none of them brought along their small children, then he should be fine with it. And as long as no one noticed the hindering injury, then there would be no problems. But things never turned out that way.

"Hey man, you okay?" Albert questioned as he came up to him while he was heading down the corridor to the next appointment.

Fuck. "Uh, yeah… I was meeting up with some old friends last night and they started roughhousing around with one another; unfortunately I got dragged in to it and I think they might've pulled something." Ishida answered; trying to ignore the nurse as he flipped through the files of paper in hand.

"You know you could probably get Milianne or someone to look at it."

"It's not life-threatening. It's no problem."

At least he hoped it wasn't life-threatening.


	44. Chapter 44

"I'll be honest with you, I didn't actually think you owned a normal shirt, let alone a turtleneck one."

She glanced up slightly from the mess of folders in front of her and to the nurse who stood close by. Chuckling lightly, she pulled the papers together as best she could and set them aside for later evaluation; freeing up space on her desk to put some patient information into her computer. "Well I can't really deny that comment, Milianne… and I will admit that it's a new shirt I got awhile ago for situations such as these."

"Situations?" Milianne questioned with a light raise of her eyebrow. "What kind of situations?"

"The ones where my housemate and I get into such heated arguments we throw each other down the staircase and wrap our hands around one another's throats to see who passes out first." Cirucci answered with a light shrug before she leaned back in her chair; pulling her computer keyboard slightly against her leg to start typing. "I lost this battle but I haven't lost the war yet; I'll get him back soon enough."

The nurse stood there for a moment as though trying to figure out if she was joking or not… and then realizing the answer probably wasn't worth looking into. Shaking her head, she chuckle briefly to herself and tried to set the matter aside. "Alright well… sounds like a fun game. Listen, a few of the other nurses and I were going to head out to lunch during our breaks, I just thought I'd ask if you wanted to join us."

"I'll have to see where I am with my work, but if I get caught up in time then I have no problems going out with you guys." she nodded. "Just let me know a few minutes before you guys leave so I can get my stuff together."

"No problem."

She nodded and watched as the woman walked back down the corridor to return to her own desk before she turned to the work that still laid in front of her. Well shit, she was hoping it would kind of disappear or float off when she wasn't paying attention to it; she guessed things didn't work like that though, damn. Rolling her neck lightly, she touched at the hidden bruise that would still take a few more days of healing before it'd disappear; she was seriously going to have a talk with Szayel when she went home that evening- whenever that may be. The soft shrill of the desk phone ringing forced a downturn on the corner of her lips before she reached over to answer it. "This is the Karakura clinic, how many I be of service?"

"The next time someone says a comment about your turtleneck, just lie."

A brief hint of a chuckle escaped her as she leaned forward for a moment. "Yeah but lying is morally wrong and besides, I'd have to keep up with the details. Although I think there'd be more questions about my high-collared shirt rather than the bruises if I showed them. Now then, aren't you usually the one who says not to abuse the hospital line?"

"That's different, you used it last time to set up a party." he reminded. "I was just calling to tell you not to upset the nursing staff."

"Pft, please, if they get upset because of a little bruise, then they might've gotten into the wrong profession." she mused. "I mean, if you have other plans for lunch break, then I can just tell Milianne that something else came up…"

"From the way my schedule is looking, I don't think there will a break for me today." Ishida responded. "But you do what you want."

"Oh, I'm sure we'll find some kind of break in there." she assured before a light buzzing noise on her end hinted at a second caller. "I'll have to call you back, someone else must be dying somewhere out there." she reached over and tapped on the button to switch over to the second line. "This is the Karakura clinic, what's your problem?"

"Hey beautiful, I was just wondering if you were free a little later on tonight; I got a fresh new bottle of wine to open and I'm ready to take out a glass or two in front of a good movie."

She frowned briefly and considered hanging up before the voice was finally recognized. "Hmm, you know what Dordoni, you aren't the first person today to ask me if I'm free later on, so… I guess I'll just have to go with whoever can bribe me the best. And seeing as you offered wine and a movie, well that's the best one so far… although the other is lunch and the next possible one could just be sex; I don't know if you can compete with that."

"Girl, if you gave me the time of day I bet I could blow you outta the water."

It was really hard not to laugh at his seductive voice that he teased her with. "Well, you can blow me if you want to."

The light break of laughter on the other side seemed to finally break him. "Alright, alright, well I'm glad we can still do this kind of thing around one another, even with your much more successful boyfriend around. But seriously, Gantenbainne and I haven't heard from you in awhile now, girl, where you at?"

"Mostly working and getting strangled but nothing new." Cirucci shrugged; finding it almost hilarious that after the doctor had reminded her not to abuse the hospital lines… she pretty much hung up on him just to do so. Oh well, there were things that just happened to fall in line as such, and the Quincy would just have to deal with it. "I'm surprised you two weren't at my place last night, everyone else was there and they were making themselves busy."

"… Did Aaroniero plan something again? Because if he did, I'm kind of glad we weren't there to begin with." Dordoni remarked.

A faint sigh escaped her as she moved to twirl her fingers in her dark-purple hair. "You know what, if you really are free this afternoon, I would love to talk about it."

"Babe, you know I'm always here for you."

"Yeah, yeah, let's not get all mushy."

* * *

She gave a light smile when she told Milianne and the other nurses that she was just so flooded with work that she'd have to skip out on the co-joined lunch break. They gave sympathetic nods and continued on about their ways. Ishida had remained true to his word when he said he was far too busy to consider taking a break; he would be moving around the back corridors of the hospital so there was no reason for him to need her to handle any kind of paperwork at this point. And as long as she was quick about it, she could be back at her desk before anyone else returned from lunch. That was… if she didn't get distracted and/or angry with the upcoming discussion.

Dordoni offered his place to meet up at and she figured if he was right about a fresh bottle of wine, then she'd be willing to take a glass or two; not that being tipsy at work was going to be the best thing, but it would help keep her calm and that was the only important matter right now.

The back of her knuckles rapped loudly against the solid white door that resided in front of her before she moved to push it open instead. "Hey Dordoni, don't bother answering the door, I just decided to let myself in without your approval."

"Ah, you don't need my approval to bring that sexy self in here." a voice called out before the bronze-skinned man stepped out from the nearby study. His black hair was slicked back in its usual state while he kept two small pieces stylized to represent horns- something his hollow piece had once done before; she still had to laugh at the separated ends of his mustache that lightly decorated the near corners of his lips. The white shirt that clung to his chest almost appeared a size too small as it clung to every contour and curve of his body; it had a deep cut of a neckline that revealed his deep collarbones and an inch or two of his broad sternum. Personally, she liked it when he wore his pants a little tight like he usually did- at least it gave her something to look at.

She shook her head and tossed her bag aside, not really bothering to know where it landed. "Stop reading your books and go get me some of that wine you promised. And where's Gantenbainne? You said he was here."

"I never said he was actually here, I just mentioned him, but by some form of coincidence, he is actually in the living room as we speak." Dordoni answered; watching as the purple-haired woman seemed to shrug it off and walked down the short opening corridor into the wide-opened, heavily decorated living space.

She supposed she shouldn't have seemed surprised to see the other dark-skinned man here, usually when the three of them weren't busy or actually remembered one another, they spent their evenings getting drunk and going to clubs. They kind of cleaned up their images now but she figured it'd only be a matter of time before something like that happens again. Leaning against the back of the couch, she peeked over to where the man seemed more interested in watching the TV screen than saying anything to her. "Yeah, hello to you too Gantenbainne."

"Yeah, you too." he replied with a brief wave of his hand.

"Seriously, you guys are the best." she muttered as she pushed herself back. "Why are you over here anyways? Don't tell me you guys are planning something else without me too."

"Nah, he just came over to watch a game on the TV." Dordoni answered; moving past her and stepping into the side kitchen, which almost appeared to be the same size as the living area- complete with a small island in the middle of it. "He's moving into a house just down the street from here, but some big important game is on and he just had to watch it."

"This is the only break I have almost all month; I'm lucky they decided to play this game today."

She rolled her eyes lightly at the explanation and moved into the kitchen soon after the black-haired man; her hands moved onto the flat counters as she eventually hoisted herself up onto one. "He does have a point. I mean, he's like an engineer and you… well, you're just a model."

"You can't deny this body." he shrugged as he moved through the multitude of cabinets overhead before he pulled out an olive-green wine bottle. "You know, I could probably fit you in for a few shoots, I could get you on magazine covers if you want."

"As tempting as it sounds, I think I'll stick with my desk job." she replied.

"She just wants to keep the doctor." Gantenbainne called from the other room.

A laugh left the black-haired man as he seemed to examine the bottle he held in hand before seeming to find it as being fit. It was well past noon so drinking wouldn't necessarily be frowned upon- well, as long as no one saw them. "Maybe there's a reason she likes to keep the desk just as well, some late night shifts have probably been on the damn thing."

"Ha ha, another word out of you two and I'm going to cut your legs off."


	45. Chapter 45

"Alright, well sit down and tell me all your problems."

Fingertips played with the rounded edge of her wine glass while she watched the cranberry-red liquid inside fall into the curves of the fragile material; a light tap on the side caused for the liquid to quiver just ever so slightly in reaction. She had moved from the countertop to the dark-wood kitchen table and sat on the far end of it, just in front of the balcony opening that had been a personal renovation of his. Her bronze-skinned counterpart sat on the other end and enjoyed his own separate glass. "Ah jeez, where do I begin? Alright, well I got back from spending a night at the Quincy's place and managed to get into an argument with Szayel in record time. Anyways, we ended up throwing each other down the stairs and wrecked our living room pretty bad; it all ended with the both of us unconscious and Harribel had to come in and clean the mess up. Well, low and behold, apparently there was a 'run-in' the night before and I wasn't aware of it, I mean no one told me a damn thing about it. So I completely lost it and left the whole damn place behind me and decided to head back over to the Quincy's place again. I spent like an hour or so there before he got home from work and we started fooling around until his friend called. Somehow, we end up agreeing to go meet her at some bar, but I had to drop by the house to pick up something first… and who all is in there? Pretty much every fucking person still in town who's not out on business. They're all just sitting in there like nothing's wrong, like I wasn't supposed to care about their little get-together anyways. I mean, what the hell were they thinking…"

"Sounds like a problem." Dordoni mused. "Well, if it's any consolation, we haven't heard anything of it either."

"Yeah but that's normal." Cirucci replied as she eventually lifted the glass up enough to take a small sip of the wine; it tasted well aged but she wasn't necessarily a fan of the darker variety. "I mean, we still give you guys a heads up about it and try to keep you involved; most of the time you two don't really give a shit though."

"We can't argue with that." Gantenbainne remarked; stepping into the kitchen to finally join them. "Most of the time, we prefer not to get involved with those kind of things… although that's not to say that we haven't assisted in those matters in the past before."

"It's different for me though, seeing as I chose to be involved in those situations- at least until now. It appears as though someone else has taken it upon themselves to change that." she muttered. "They hold a solid belief in it though, at least they have a pretty good reason and they're not just being assholes about it- which I figured they would be."

Dordoni leaned back in his chair for a moment and watched as the dark-purple haired woman seemed to pinch lightly at the space between her eyes. "Let me guess… all the mess started when you got that new boyfriend of yours right?"

"Well yeah, that's when the shit really hit the fan- didn't I tell you about all of this?" Cirucci questioned.

"Honey, like I said, we haven't talked in a long time; the last I heard, you were just trying to make his life hell and now you're practically married to him." he reminded.

It couldn't have been that long ago, could it? No, the last time she talked to him… okay maybe he did have a point. Another brief sigh moved from her as she positioned one hand to rub at the back of her neck. "Alright, here's the whole deal… he still has connections to the Shinigamis; a few of his friends are still on good terms with them while he prefers to be more distant. Either way, the whole point is that if the Shinigamis got curious and came out to investigate on the matter… then he would be one of the first people they'd go to. Now, he's already said that he wouldn't bother with them and even if it did turn to questioning, he wouldn't say anything about us. But apparently even someone's word is difficult to take into account, so to ensure everyone's safety… I've basically been cut from communication; they seem to think I pose a threat of spilling something important to him and that the news will somehow find its way back to the Society. I mean… I guess I can't really blame them for wanting to cover everyone's asses, if one of us goes down, we all go down; but still… you would think someone would've come up with a better method of approaching it. Instead of just overnight saying 'thanks for the good times but you're too dangerous to talk to now.'"

"Sounds like shit just got real for you." Gantenbainne whistled.

She rolled her eyes lightly before she looked over to the much taller man. He was dressed in what one could've described as a loose business suit; an overthrown jacket was missing but he still had on a decent white shirt with a slightly unbuttoned black vest over it. It was probably one of the more proper attires she had seen him in, not that his job really required all too much of a dress code. "Yeah, you could say something like that. I think things were simpler when I just wanted to scare him but now you add in the issue of loving him and it's like… shit, I got myself all fucked up."

"Well hey, when you guys have your first kid, name it after me." Dordoni offered.

"I don't know, that's jumping into some deep, terrifying territory there." Gantenbainne warned. "I mean, do you really want to see Miss. Thunderwitch here with a kid?"

"You're just mad because I would have adorable children." she defended. "And hey, you know what, it'd be like an honor too seeing as the Quincy population is practically extinct; it'd be like helping out an endangered species."

"Hell girl, we're not gonna stop you from it."

Shaking her head, she gave into a mused chuckle and sipped at her wine once more. "I don't think that would be in the best interest right now… and seeing all the shit that's come up lately, I really don't think it's a good idea."

"She says that now…"

"Pft, fuck you guys all the way." she remarked; listening to the other two men share a few loose chuckles over it. It was one of those moments now where she remembered why she stopped hanging out around them and why she sometimes did and did not regret it. "Now one of you two bimbos tell me what time it is."

Dordoni shrugged lightly before he looked down at the leather strap tied around one wrist. "Uh… I've got one-thirty on my watch." he answered before he glanced back over to her; watching as a brief frown appeared on the woman's lips. "Is that a problem?"

"Yeah, kind of. I mean, I was supposed to be back at work thirty minutes ago."

The black-haired man stared at her for a moment before he gave a heftier shrug this time. "They have your cell number, if they really needed you they would've called by now." it seemed to take a moment before he watched as the woman agreed with the remark and finished off the glass in front of her. "Now, another questioning point has been provoked here though… let's say that things do get heated and this whole mess explodes right in our face; I mean, there would have to be Shinigamis coming in from every corner of the godforsaken Earth but… let's say this does happen, what would that boyfriend of yours do? Do you really think he'd just keep quiet and let bygones be bygones?"

Fuck, she hated these kind of questions for the sheer fact of how realistic they seemed to be; how realistic they could be if they weren't careful. That incident two days ago was their worst performance yet, especially if a few of them came out with injuries… something went wrong and they got sloppy with their handiwork. If one of the Shinigamis managed to escape alive, then they were fucked for sure; it was all just a matter and question of when. When would the Shinigamis decide that enough was enough and come raging through here like a stampede? "That's uh… that's a real interesting question you've got there, Diablo." Cirucci started; tagging on a nickname that had been bestowed upon him from their earlier years and still stuck around even now. "In my personal opinion, he'd probably keep quiet about it overall, I mean… if the Shinigamis showed no sense of tension or no signs of attack, then he'd lay low. But, if they did choose to continue on with their crusade here, then it would provoke a different response."

"So, you think if someone came after you, he'd be there to defend you in a moment's notice?"

"… Yeah, I guess something like that."

* * *

Fifty people made up his entire morning route and then twenty more after them who came in during the afternoon shift. At most, the least severe one was a bloody nose that remained persistent on a four year old and the top of the list severe was a kitchen accident; a five inch cut that required numerous stitches but wasn't entirely life-threatening. It was kind of odd how he had gotten used to the much needed organ transplants or the internal bleeding messes… sometimes he forgot he had to deal with the average day accidents that came up from time to time.

And his neck was still killing him.

"Hey, Ishida, any idea where Cirucci is?" Albert questioned as he took a moment to stop in the middle of the open doorway; peeking in to where the dark-haired doctor was leaning back in his chair. "I've got some files I need her to put into the computer."

A brief shrug left him as he moved to rub the back of his neck. "Knowing her, she could be anywhere at this moment and I'm kind of glad for it. As for the files, you can just leave them on her desk or, you know, pull up a chair and figure out how to work a computer."

"Hey, I know how to use a computer." he replied. "And not just for porn either- I know you were about to say that, don't deny it."

Okay, yeah he was about to say it. "She's probably out running a personal errand; she'll be back in a few minutes."

"So, I'm serious man, what is going on between the two of you-"

"Albert… shut up." Ishida replied; waiting for the blonde to eventually leave his line of sight before he released a heavy sigh. Come to think of it… it was a bit late for the woman to still be out; she was almost an hour overdue from lunch. Hmm, it probably wasn't anything, knowing her, she stopped off somewhere to pick something up or ran into someone else. Nothing all too dangerous and/or threatening.

On second thought, maybe he should call her…


	46. Chapter 46

**A/N: I wish there was a proper apology for the hiatus wait that didn't sound like an excuse... unfortunately they all do. I hadn't planned on doing the next chapter since it was on my computer- that is still busted and inaccessible, but after this long of a wait, it was getting ridiculous. I mean, four months, really? I tell myself it was probably like half a page that wouldn't have mattered anyways.**

He supposed it was his nerves that drove him to panic, if only in the slightest sense.

It had been a small routine for the past ten minutes of picking up his phone to call her before he gradually talked himself out of it... only to go back a few seconds later with a sense of renewed worry. He assured himself that this was just typical behavior for her, nothing new and something he should have expected anyways; still, he couldn't fight back the thoughts that questioned his knowledge of her again and again. In the end, it wasn't necessarily her he was worried about, more like worried for... and the rest of the world was what he worried about. All it took was a small seed of questioning, a small plant of possibilities... what if Soul Society had caught on to them? What if they had a lock on a few of them right now?

What if they were tracking him as a source to find the rest of the party?

Hell, it had been months but he remembered what Nemu told him when she dropped in for a visit. Something about how Division Twelve kept records on everyone and made sure to keep them updated from time to time. It was like having a tag implanted under his skin or something, or a second set of eyes somewhere out there watching him.

Maybe he just stayed up too late, too often watching those eerie investigative shows.

Giving into a defeated sigh, he picked up the cellular device for the final time and carefully punched in the numbers to contact her. He tried to convince himself not to act too worried if she didn't pick up, she usually did that from time to time... but he had to make sure he didn't act too relieved when she answered either, or that would give the whole act up. He'd have to find some sort of middle ground between the next few seconds either to hide his disappoint or hide his relief.

She didn't tell him where she was going, or that she was even leaving in the first place, which again wasn't new for her. He should stop acting like such a panicked maniac about her whereabouts... she could still take care of herself.

Right?

It took a few seconds and a small collection of rings before an audible click sounded from the other side.

In the center of his chest, he let out the breath he had been holding in for the entire moment. Fingers moved to pinch the empty space between his eyes, pushing his glasses out of place, as he leaned back in his chair slightly. "Cirucci, where are you at?"

"Well... right now she's in the little ladies room... which is awkward because I don't have one of those in my house."

The deep voice that answered instead was about the pushing point to his already elevated sense of anxiety. He was pretty certain the color drained completely out from his face within those few short seconds that those words held, and yet they seemed to play on an infinite cycle in his head. "Uh... who is this?" the words seemed to take hours before they forced themselves out.

"This is no one important-"

"Dordoni! What have I told you about answering my phone!"

The echoed shout of her voice in the background felt oddly comforting to hear and he managed to drop back into a semi-relaxed state again. It sounded like a minor elevated fight on the other end, complete with brief arguing shouts and a third, deeper voice calling from an even distant background. Well, from what he could hear, it didn't seem like she was in immediate danger... or perhaps her possible kidnappers were just terrible at their jobs. He tried to busy himself with things around on his desk, overlooking the thick stack of files that still needed to be sorted through and the voice messages he needed to return; not to mention, he received a letter from the city offices thanking the hospital for allowing them to host that ceremony- there was also a little line about congratulating him on his soon to be wedding. Which, he had already forgotten about that whole ordeal... so he would have to eventually break it to them that it was just a poorly constructed joke. Or that they would have to wait like twenty years for his dementia to set in and make him crazy enough to marry her.

"Are you still there, doctor? I think I might have a few more patients for you."

"I don't know, I have enough on my plate right now, can you tell them to find another time to be injured and/or possibly die?" he questioned, eventually deciding that he would reply to the email at another moment. "You know you were due back from break about forty-five minutes ago?"

"Uh... yes? But I have a really good excuse." Cirucci started. "... Okay, nevermind, I don't; I just drank too much wine and lost track of time. Maybe if Dordoni didn't wear such tight-fitting shirts, I wouldn't be so easily distracted. Or if Gantenbainne didn't wear such fine-looking suits... hey, what are you wearing right now?"

Oh Gods, he was glad he decided to use a private line instead... just in the case someone picked up on the other line. "Where are you?"

There seemed to be a faint chuckle on the other end and he was pretty certain it was because of something terrible. "Don't worry, I'm safe and just talking with some friends. What's with the parent act so suddenly? You don't think I can take care of myself?"

"Maybe he's jealous that I might take advantage of this situation and ravage your body with my own."

"Oh, don't flatter yourself Dordoni, the only think you would be taking advantage of would be my boredom and then you'd only be ravaging something I already knew." she retorted with a playful twist in her tone. "Don't pay any attention to these two, they're... kind of special in their own little way... one of which science has yet to explain-"

"Whoa, someone took an extra dosage of bitch pills this morning."

He just wanted one answer... one simple answer and suddenly he was mixed up in this conflict that he could've gone without listening to. There was a brief knock on his door, which drew his attention away from the continued argument on the other line and to where the female nurse was stepping inside. He moved to push the phone into his shoulder instead, seeing as nothing pertaining to him was going on at the moment. "What is it?"

"A few extra files, a new appointment for tomorrow evening- Mr. Henderson's hip is giving him problems again- and another personal card from the city." Millianne reported, shifting a small stack of folders in her arms while trying to balance a rather, extravagant postcard in one hand. "Although I have to ask, they said to pass on their congratulations for your soon-to-be 'joyous ceremony'... what does that mean exactly?"

Shaking his head briefly, he moved to readjust his glasses and offer her a slight groan in response. "I wish I could tell you... but I don't really know how the hell that happened."

"I'm guessing it's something Cirucci did then? Because this is like the fourth card they've sent to you and the rest of us are still trying to figure out the ones we posted in the break room."

"I hope you're joking." Ishida started, wincing slightly as a loud commotion echoed from his phone. "But yeah, it was something that was taken out of context when it was said and... I just haven't gotten around to correcting them on it. After four cards and three emails, it's going to be a bit difficult to call them out on it... and admit that it was probably mostly my fault for the miscommunication. Anyways, I'll take the files and get started on them as soon as I finish the rest of these."

The woman offered a slight frown at the piled amount of work that still remained in sight as she slowly made her way over to the crowded desk space. "Have you ever considered maybe... opening another position so we could get a second doctor in here and help distribute this work?"

"The last time this hospital opened up a position, we got stuck with Cirucci... and we all see how that's turning out." he reminded.

"That's true... but just think, you two will open a doorway of happiness for years to come." Millianne teased as she set the files down on the far corner, which was about the only clear space she could find. "Remember to send me one of those 'Save-the-Date' cards when you guys finally settle on a day; I'll need a few days to pick out a dress and maybe participate in a bachelorette party."

"You know, even as a joke, it's really frightening to think about. But, it's not like I sleep anyways." Ishida sighed, fingers touching between his eyes once more. "I figured the last time you participated in a bachelorette party was when Nicholas the second married Alix of Hesse."

"Those Russians know how to party."

He didn't even know how this conversation started but it was going to places he didn't even know about. "When you update that appointment list, do you mind sending me a copy of it? With the way things are right now, I can't be certain that I'll remember everyone I'm supposed to be seeing tomorrow."

"No problem." she nodded before curiosity seemed to get the better of her as she pointed lightly to the phone against his shoulder. "Don't tell me I'm interrupting an important call here."

"This? No, I'm just putting my future wife on hold for... well I'm aiming for a couple of decades right now." he answered with a brief shrug.

"... Right. Well tell her I have friends in the catering business, I could get you guys a nice discount."

"And I know someone to get illegal drugs from in case it all goes to hell and we need to get rid of any and all witnesses."

The nurse gave a brief chuckle before she moved back out of the office without another word; this entire conversation was a break from the ordinary and he was pretty certain it did little to help this ongoing... mystery of what he and Cirucci were up to. He didn't like to get involved with it though and preferred to keep himself out of the gossip, although it was difficult to ignore those little giggles that occurred every time he past by a group of nurses.

He shifted his attention back to the ongoing phone call, taking note that it had all gone silent on the other end. "... Cirucci? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, I just had to get into my car and run it through Dordoni's house a few times; don't worry though, I'll be back to work in about... ten minutes, give or take." she assured. "Until then, I guess you'll just have to listen to my wonderful voice."

"You shouldn't drive and talk on the phone at the same time, that's how people get into accidents and then I have to stitch them back together." he remarked. "I'll just talk to you in person when you get here. Don't speed."

"Whatever you say, _Dad_."

* * *

The audible click of her phone closing back together was followed by a quick sigh passing through her lips. One hand moved to ruffle through her dark-purple curls as she stared at the device as though it was going to come to life again. She wasn't the least bit worried about work right now, hell she could take the rest of the day off and it wasn't like he would care; he certainly wouldn't fire her that's for sure, in fact he'd probably enjoy an afternoon to get his work done anyways.

"You going to say anything to him about this?"

She glanced back at the question and watched as the bronze-skinned man had seated himself once more, fingers carefully readjusting his small bangs. A light scoff escaped the tip of her tongue as she moved to drop her phone into her bag. "Are you kidding me? It's not worth wasting my breath over."


	47. Chapter 47

"Alright, alright, I'm here, no need to panic, call off the rescue crews."

He glanced up at her announcement as he was halfway through throwing a new stack of folders on her desk, which was already covered underneath a stack of earlier disposed files. It was easier to believe she was okay now that she was standing right in front of him… just a little bit harder to hide his relief now that he knew she wasn't flipped in a ditch somewhere. "Well that's good; I'd hate to have to put out another ad for a secretary."

"You didn't even hire me." She reminded, slipping her bag off one shoulder and throwing it into the seat of her chair. One hand found a subtle way to her hip as she took note of the slight change in his appearance; overall, he looked a little bit paler than he did this morning... well really, even more so now. "And you look like you're on the verge of passing out. Were you that worried?"

Yeah he was worried, but not to the point of unconsciousness- that belonged to another factor.

"No, I just forgot to take my medication this morning." He replied as he readjusted his glasses for a moment. "It's just now acting up on me."

"Hmmm, I bet." Cirucci started, a brief hum leaving her lips as she pressed her other hand against his chest; fingers toying with the light-blue tie he had slipped on for the day. "But being an hour late is hardly anything to worry over, you know."

She had a point, not a very good one but… he supposed he had overreacted just a bit.

Then again, he figured he had a good reason to anyways.

"You'll probably have to stay an hour after to make up for it."

"That's fine, I'm going home with you anyways."

He had only stepped out of his office to drop off these files... and he almost made it completely away from her desk before the words finally hit him. Turning back towards her, he watched as she walked on by, a little strut in her step as she moved back over to her desk. "Wait, wait… why are you coming back to my place?"

A light shrug passing from her shoulders was all she offered as she dropped herself into her open chair; her hands moved to readjust her thick curls once more as she tried to ignore the overflowing stack of work that resided to her right. "Well, unless you want to drop back by my place… I'm sure there's still a party going on over there, not sure if you'd want to get involved with that though."

That was another point- wait, that wasn't even what he was going with. Sighing lightly, he gave a shake of his head before he started to return to his office. "Well… I guess I don't see any problems with it…"

"You say that like I was offering it to be a choice here."

* * *

The day hadn't changed much from the hour he stepped in to the hour he stepped back out; it was constant work back and forth through files and colored folders, trying to find nitpicky information bits that he would need for later reports. He swore he burned through two notebooks trying to get all the details he needed written down so he could safely tuck them away for another day. By the time his time card needed to be clocked out, the nightshift had already settled in and were gossiping in the back hallways with one another. And while he was sure the woman was dying to leave the place... she ended up staying the entire time he did and followed him home just as they had planned beforehand.

While he supposed it was something that was becoming more common between them... it still just felt really odd to have someone else in the house with him. He supposed he had been so used to living by himself, he wasn't entirely sure if he was comfortable with sharing his space with another person. She made it difficult and easy all in one though, which actually didn't really help him out at all.

"Is the reason you wanted to stay over because of what happened the other day?" Ishida questioned briefly, closing the front door behind them and locking it to its frame.

"No, I just like wasting my time around you." She retorted playfully, tossing her jacket and bag over the closest piece of furniture as she walked ahead of him. "I just feel like spending another day or so acting like a disgruntled teenager and ignoring them like it's going to solve all my problems… I suppose I just don't want to deal with their bullshit right now."

He gave a brief nod at her statement and moved to pick up her things as she continued on through the house; he supposed he couldn't blame her… he wouldn't want to go back there either. In fact, he was somewhat surprised one of them hadn't jumped him at some point or another. Moving to relocate her jacket and bag to a more suitable location, he loosened the tie around his neck and slowly followed after her. "In any case, I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to stay a few more days."

She glanced briefly over one shoulder and looked back to him. "You act like I'm a burden to you."

"Burden? No, no… you just like to hog most of the bed when you're asleep." He corrected, catching that subtle chuckle that played on her lips.

"Hey, I don't hog most of the bed, I just deserve it." Cirucci corrected as she stepped into the kitchen for a moment, ready to make a fresh pot of coffee. It wasn't often that she had a strong craving for it but right now… she could probably go for an entire pot or two. There was a brief pause in her steps at the feel of his hands coming to rest against her hips as he just ever so slightly brushed his lips against the curve of her jawline.

"You keep spending all your time over here and eventually the neighbors will think you've already moved in."

She chuckled once again and twisted her body slightly to fall more into line with his own; fingers pulling at his tie once more. "Is that so? Well I wouldn't want to be starting any false rumors now, would I?"

Leaning back into her, he touched his lips against her own for a short moment, drawing away right when she was going for it. "We'll see."

He ruffled up her dark locks just before departing and she watched as he eventually headed towards the back of the house, back to his bedroom. She figured after all the work he had put into this morning, he was about ready to crash anyways- the early morning work shift tomorrow probably wasn't helping him any either. Setting up the oh-so needed pot of coffee she wanted, she let the machine sit aside to do its job while she walked off to do her own. Hands quickly picked off her heels as she walked down the same corridor he had just disappeared into, tossing the shoes aside to collect somewhere in the corners of the hallway. Carefully edging open the slightly-cracked bedroom door, she peeked in to see where he was collapsed on his bed, half undressed. A soft sigh escaped her before she moved to clear the short space between them; hands braced on the edge of the bed and helped to pull her up onto the quiet mattress.

"Come on Quincy, you can't put your shoes on the bed." She remarked, drawing herself up to his side. Propping her shoulders against the headboard, she moved to settle into a comfortable position in the mess of pillows and blankets around them.

"They're on my side." He replied before one hand moved over to rest on her leg, just above the knee.

"No, I'm pretty sure that's my side."

His free hand moved to push up on his glasses for a moment, eventually managing to push them off from his face and to the pillow below. "You know, if you keep staying over like this, I'm going to have to invest in a bigger mattress anyways."

"That would be lovely, we could go shopping for one this weekend, that way I know you're getting a brand I like." She offered, hearing a brief chuckle escape him.

"When did I let you control my life like this?" he questioned.

"Oh Quincy… I've always controlled your life." She reminded, watching as he seemed to be fighting to keep awake. Fingers carefully brushed aside the black strands that fell into his face and tucked them away. "You just never wanted to accept that."

He gave a light nod with her words, figuring there was some sense of truth in them. "Let me ask you something, Cirucci… how long have we been together?"

"That is quite the question, let's see… uh, geez, it feels like it's been decades." She started, ruffling up her locks before she moved to pull them loose from where she had them tucked aside. "I think it's been like a couple of months maybe? I don't keep up with petty things like that. You're a doctor though, you're pretty good with keeping up with dates."

"I work on a day-by-day kind of schedule and the few times I look forward by a month or two is usually only because of some kind of scheduled surgery." He admitted. "It does feel like years though…"

Stifling a short yawn, she thought she heard some kind of mechanical ding go off in the distance but chose to ignore it for now. She pushed herself away from the headboard and gradually buried herself into the sheets underneath her. Resting her head against his shoulder, she felt him have to shift around as he pulled his arm loose from underneath her- eventually moving to place his hand against her back instead. "What are we going to do, Quincy?"

"I have no clue."

Fingers moved to trace along the soft wrinkles of her outfit, feeling the silk-like material fold and give underneath his touch; the soft form of her skin underneath pushed back against him and every now and again he could feel her moving about in his touch. Warm, subtle breaths escaped into the curve of his neck as she tried to move herself in closer against him, one hand moving to press against the center of his chest. He couldn't really help but notice how relaxing these moments could be… where there didn't seem to be another person in the world around to bug them or hassle them about work- unless someone called his cellphone, in which case then he'd have to answer them. But he guessed it left a lot open to the imagination as well.

"By the way, Millianne showed me that card the city sent you." She started. "I particularly liked the congratulations part of it."

"Yeah, I told her that I would eventually have to solve the whole matter out." He remarked, moving to pinch the empty space between his eyes. "Which, you know, is going to be hell to do. Next thing you know, I'll be getting condolences cards."

"Oh come on, I already told a few of the nurses I was still trying to pick out colors and an overall theme to go with." Cirucci remarked. "And when I told them I was going to be looking for a dress soon enough, I can't tell you how many store names they gave me. I think one of them is actually a lingerie store… one that I've been in before…"

"Don't get everyone's hopes up." He commented. "Next thing you know, they'll be asking for invitations and pictures and… whatever else comes with a wedding."

Chuckling, she pushed herself away for a moment and looked down to where he seemed half-asleep anyways. His tie had been discarded sometime during the short period thy had been separated; the front of his white shirt was partly pulled down to reveal his deep collarbones and the top of the crevice that ran down the center of his chest. "I bet they just think we're getting married because you got me pregnant."

"We're not getting married. And you're not pregnant."

She watched the way he moved his hands over his face for a moment and kept them there. Her fingers moved to play with the loose, open collar of his shirt as she toyed with the half pulled zipper. "You're no fun, you know that?"

"It's more like… I don't want to have to explain the whole matter when it all turns out to not be true." He explained, dropping his hands to take a soft hold onto her own. "Plus your colleagues would probably kill me."

"Kill is a generous word to use." She nodded. "They'd probably make you wish you were dead though… I'm just kidding, they're nice people and they would probably throw a party for us. And then I would get to chat with the girls and Nell would laugh because she was in those pregnant shoes a few months ago. Then you would get the lucky chance to hang out with all the guys… who would probably beat the shit out of you. I mean, they would bring a few beers and tell you that you'll probably never want to touch me again."

"The more you talk about this, the more it frightens me." He groaned. "And it's not even true."

"But it's hilarious to see you panic." She humored. "Hey, remind me that if we ever get married, to not let them take you out for a bachelor party… because you might not come back with them."

Shaking his head, he tried to roll away from her, only to have her wrap herself around him and pull him back in. "I just want to take a shower and go to sleep, what more do you want from me?"

"I want to discuss more about our future." She teased, managing to wrap her legs around his waist when he tried to get up.

Sighing, he tried to twist around and loosen himself, only to further their entanglement instead. "We're here right now, that's enough of the future for me."

"That's because this is the present, sweetheart." Cirucci reminded, feeling the way he tried to get himself lose from her grip before he eventually gave up on the process and turned into dead weight against her legs. She continued to toy with the black strands on had managed to partly mask his face, noticing how he seemed more willing to give up on the act of taking a shower and would've preferred to sleep now. And while she figured there were no actual reasons for her to be holding him back like this... she supposed she didn't want to let him go just yet. Not that anything important could happen between here and the bathroom and nothing disastrous could occur for the ten minutes he took to shower... still, it felt like an eternity to wait.

Or maybe her heart was just too weak to beat without his.

Hey, maybe her next job could be writing those really sappy Hallmark cards they have at the store.

Chuckling lightly to herself, she moved to loosen her leg from where she had it locked around him. "Alright, alright, you go can go now, I've had my fun."

The few moments she gave him to get out of her range though weren't even taken as he remained in the same spot. One would think for a man who had been previously fighting to get loose from her grip, he would've known to take this kind of opportunity. However, it was only upon closer observation that she noticed he had actually managed to fall asleep right where he was lying down... which in turn, managed to pin her leg in underneath him.

"Smart move, Quincy... smart move."


	48. Chapter 48

The digital clock on the bedside table highlighted that it was three in the morning already… not exactly the best hour to wake up at, but at least it meant he got somewhere around seven to eight hours of sleep already. A short groan escaped him as he moved to cover his eyes for a moment, pinching the empty space between them as he debated on going back to sleep or dragging himself out of bed. Within five or more minutes though, he'd be wide awake anyways… if he could succeed in getting up without injuring himself on some piece of hidden furniture, then he'd catch up on taking that shower he wanted to before.

Come to think of it now…

Glancing briefly over to one side, he quickly noticed the purple haired woman who still remained at his side; at this point though, she had somewhat snuggled herself underneath the covers and made herself more than comfortable enough- probably more than he was. As reluctant as he was to admit it… there was still something appealing in the subtle expression that marked her soft features; that open sense of vulnerability that she was all the more willing to share. A few years ago, this would've been past impossible to witness, but in the given time frame like this… he didn't care. If he could convince himself to just let it all go, then moments like this wouldn't seem so frightening and calm at the same time.

Pushing himself up as quietly as he could, hoping not to wake her in the process of it, he managed to roll himself off the edge of the bed and catch himself in a reasonable manner. Fingers fumbled slightly to figure out where he had pushed his glasses off to before he managed to find the thin frames somewhat stuffed beneath his pillow. A low groan left the woman as she shifted slightly before she somehow managed to roll into the empty space he left behind, fingers curling lightly over the loose folds of the same pillows… Yeah he was glad to have timed that like he did because he wouldn't have been able to move her out of the way. Moving into the adjacent bathroom, he fitted one hand against the back of his neck as he rolled it slightly and heard a somewhat satisfying pop result from the movement. That was the last time he slept like that… he really needed to stop just collapsing in bed and sleeping wherever he landed; then again, that would mean he'd have to stop working too.

Always that ever rolling cycle.

Fingers moved to twist the shower faucets and he listened to the subtle clanging of the water pipes before a rush of water sprayed out of the showerhead. He wasn't really worried for the water being able to wake the woman in the next room, she seemed to be a heavy sleeper regardless and even if it did wake her, she'd probably be too comfortable to want to pull herself out of bed.

Hands helped to peel off the clothing from the day before, allowing for the once pressed material to land in a crumbling heap in one corner of the bathroom.

The lukewarm water helped to relax his slightly cramped muscles and wash away the events of the previous day; a few more satisfying pops followed as he worked out the tension in his shoulders and gradually moved down the wrecked stiffness in his back. How did his body feel like it was completely out of shape? Then again, the constant working schedule of back to back shifts and the lack of proper sleep in the past month or two probably had something to do with it. But hey, he couldn't really help that, as long as people kept getting injured or running into medical crisis, then he would have to be on call twenty-four hours… Come to think of it, he should really check his phone to see if anyone called him.

He would be up for the rest of the morning anyways, so if anyone wanted to call him then, he'd be able to answer almost immediately. Not that he was looking forward to it though… as much as he liked to help people and do what he could to solve their medical problems, it could lead to a very close breaking point. Studies reported that doctors had some of the highest suicide rates and after returning from that conference two or three years ago and seeing how some of the other medical officers acted… he'd believe it. Personally, he had witnessed far too much in the last few years to even bother himself with those kind of thoughts- although the sudden appearance of the Arrancar female made him almost reconsider that.

He lingered for a few more minutes just to relax his still stiff muscles before he moved to cut the shower knobs off. Giving into a few stilling moments to let as much water run off his body before he stepped out; hands pulled loose the towel that had been hung on the rack outside a few hours ago and moved to wrap it around his waist. Stifling a short yawn, he pushed his black locks from his face and took the smaller towel that had been left on the counter; slinging it across the back of his neck.

She was still in the same position from before, well maybe a little more refined as one arm was tucked underneath the pillow instead while her body was twisted slightly to the other side. This was the reason why he was thinking of investing in a larger bed… because she liked to take up all the available space and take it for herself. Still, it was a little humorous to witness and he spared a light chuckle at her expense as he moved towards the closet on the other side of the room. Technically he didn't have to get dressed for another four hours, but lounging around in just a towel wasn't exactly the best option- especially not with the woman in the same house. That in itself was a bad idea unless he wanted to be taken advantage of.

Slipping into a loose-fitting shirt and faded jeans, he tried to leave the bedroom as quietly as he could, pulling the door closed behind him before he headed back down the short hallway.

His phone didn't show any missed calls or messages, so that was good… that probably meant he'd be able take the rest of the early morning off until his shift started. It was always a little humorous that even with this amount of time between each shift with no calls so far, he still couldn't make himself enjoy the free moment; he always had to get up within four or more hours before his shift, depending on how exhausted he felt, and just busy himself with something. He guessed that was just how he kept himself leveled out.

Sitting himself into the leather chair in the front room, he switched on the single lamp close by and reached down into the small holding bin at the side; fingers coming into contact with the soft material that had been pushed into the bottom of it. He had been in the process of sewing a ripped seam in one of his shirts… he had started it almost a month ago and just never went back to finish the job. With this little extra spot of time though, he could probably finish it finally.

His fingers were a little shaky with the needle as he worked it carefully through the thin material, trying to remember to keep the pattern straight or risk having an awkward pulling seam. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he had done something like that by accident. The lack of time given to sewing though proved to be a bit fatal as he found himself pricking his fingertips from time to time and having to pull out a few stitches that ruined his pattern. It was either his lack of continuous practice, lack of focus and concentration… or he just wasn't in the mood for it. It was relaxing though, there was always that to admit.

"I can't tell if this is the sexiest thing I've ever seen or not."

The remark caught his attention but he was determined to get that last stitch in before his concentration was knocked aside.

The tip of his middle finger pushed up on his glasses for a moment as he pulled the needle through the last few times before he held the pattern at a distance to examine the work done; eventually, his dark eyes lifted to see where the woman was casually standing in the opening of the nearby corridor. The shadows masked most of her form but also seemed to highlight where her thin clothing folded along the curves of her body.

"You must not get out as much as I thought you did."

She chuckled lightly and gradually pushed herself off from the wall. Slowly making her way over to where he was still overlooking whatever it was that he had fixed, dragging her fingertips over the back of the couch in the process of it, she took note of his lingering absence of attention. Either he was just really concentrated on what was in front of him… or he was faking concentration and doing a terrible job at it. Fingers reached forward and took the soft material he was holding, pulling it out from his grasp and tossing it aside. "Well, it's not that I know all too many men who can sew… not clothing at least."

He didn't bother to try and stop her and only watched as she set her hands on the chair arms, eventually sliding herself into his open lap. There was that sense of almost dead weight as she buried her head into one of his shoulders and tucked her hands underneath his arms. "It's kind of weird to think that I can fix a shirt whenever I want to… and sew up someone's stomach if I have to. Two different forms of media but essentially the same ordeal, right?"

His hands moved to cradle the curve of her back as he pulled her in towards him.

"Eww… I hope you keep that mental image in your head."

"It never really leaves."

A soft hum left her lips as she glanced up briefly over his shoulder and towards the window just behind him; there was a faint drizzle of water on the glass… she didn't hear it start raining earlier, then again she was asleep and it wasn't loud enough to wake her up. It was a nice little setting though, at least for this early in the morning. Why did she get up this early anyways?

"You know you don't start working for another four hours or so." she remarked.

"Yeah, but I couldn't go back to sleep so I figured I might as well do something with my time." he replied as he moved to tuck her messy locks away from her face. "And then you came along and interrupted me."

Chuckling to herself, she moved to push away from him for a moment; fingers moving to tangle lightly in the loose collar of his shirt. "Well, if you want, I could think of a better alternative, something a little more exciting than sewing in the dark."

This was the precise reason he talked himself into getting dressed earlier.

Because he knew the moment he took his eyes off of her, she was going to figure out some way to get under his clothing… although the four given hours were a little tempting to misuse.

"You're insatiable, you know that."

"You're welcome, Quincy."


	49. Chapter 49

It was pretty much pointless to have taken a shower in the first place… he ended up having to take a second one just a few hours later.

But that subtle yet satisfying groan that left her when she stretched right when he reappeared in the bedroom once more was something to take into account; her purple eyes were lazy as she barely opened them at his arrival, the corners of her lips lifting just ever so slightly. What part of the covers hadn't been kicked off the side of the bed scarcely covered her body and revealed the smooth skin she often liked to show off.

"Well I'm looking forward to breaking in that new mattress when you get it."

"And then I'll have to immediately replace it." he chuckled lightly enough as he pushed himself out of the doorway; fingers moving to brush aside the wet locks of his hair. He now had about half an hour before he had to return to the hospital, which was by no means a rush… it just kind of showed how easily time passed with her around. "Should I even bother asking if you're going to show up to work or not?"

"I'll be there until noon." she answered as she stretched once more before she slowly rolled over onto her side; one hand taking a hold of the covers as she casually pulled them closer around her. "I have a date scheduled around one that I'm going to need to take time off for."

"A date?" he repeated as he made his way over to his closet for the second time that morning. "With who?"

"Tatsuki and I were texting each other while you were in the shower." she answered. "We finally decided on a time for us getting together and figured hell, we're not busy today."

"Even though you were scheduled for a full day, right?"

"Oh, details aren't important, don't cramp on my much needed girl time." she remarked. "Besides, the few times we've run into each other, she seems like a really nice person… wouldn't hurt for me to branch out into your group of friends, right?"

"I don't know, sounds a bit frightening if you ask me. I mean, me introducing you to my friends was a big enough of a step but now you want to hang out with them?"

"I'd offer to let you hang out with mine-"

"That's fine, I'm not interesting." he quickly replied, shuffling through his shirts once more before he pulled one loose and slipped it on. "In fact, I think I would be just fine without knowing your friends; I already know quite a few of them very well."

She chuckled once more and slowly rolled over to watch him get dressed; watching as he slipped into the usual outfit he wore day in and day out. Even if she saw it everyday, she still loved the look of him all dolled up like that- although he certainly looked much better in a full suit. What was that saying, something like 'tuxedos to women was like lingerie to men?' Either way, it was completely true in her opinion. "What tie are you going to wear today?"

"I wear almost the same one everyday."

"You should wear the silver one then."

"It doesn't match with this jacket."

"Oh, but I thought you wore the same one everyday." she repeated as she slowly pushed herself up and away from the covers below; one hand moving tiredly to brush her tangled bangs out of her face. She didn't attempt to keep the sheets from tumbling away from her bare skin and simply let the thin material fold into a mess into her lap.

"I wear the black one, not the silver one; that goes with my suit, not with my work outfit." he corrected, turning back to figure out if he had left his shoes in here or in the living room somewhere. He paused briefly as he watched her stifle a short yawn before she slowly inched her way out of bed, causing for the sheets to drag themselves away from her skin. If he stayed looking much longer though… neither of them would get to work on time. "I'll make some coffee."

"Pft, mood killer."

"I've got important calls today, can't miss them like the last ones." he started, watching as she stepped into the bathroom to take her turn in the shower. "Besides, I already answered your call."

"Only because I left a dozen messages."

"Oh I know." the words left him in a brief chuckle as he touched at the sore area along the back of his neck.

Making his way back out into the corridor, it felt like he was simply going through a session of déjà vu but instead of going towards the front room, he turned towards the kitchen instead. There was still a cold pot from the night before, he guessed Cirucci never got around to actually finishing it. Dumping out the remains, he filled it up once more before he reset the machine and started on a fresher pot. A brief frown caught onto his lips as he noticed the slight disarray of the counters before he moved to clean them down next.

He guessed work had been so consuming- along with Cirucci taking up what little time remained- he just hadn't gotten around to keeping the house in order. Well… if work went easy this weekend, he had some plans ahead for him.

Hopefully Millianne would have that appointment list printed out for him today so he could be sure to attend to all of his patients today; the last time he accidentally looked one over… well, it wasn't pretty and the hospital waiting room might've suffered some property damage. He knew about Mr. Henderson's hip ordeal, and he should really look into getting that matter with the city solved today; he wasn't sure how to go about it, but it was better than letting it simmer about.

Sighing, he crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter for a moment, taking in the quiet moment as best he could for now; it wasn't very often he got one, so he was quick to take advantage of it. If the day permitted it, maybe his work schedule would be lighter than it has been recently… then he could catch up on all of his paperwork and get his reports done. That was wishful thinking though.

"Ah, well that was relaxing while it lasted."

And there went the quiet moment.

He glanced up at the voice and watched as she slowly stepped out from the hallway; hands busy tying her still wet locks up into a small clip to keep them from dangling into her face. She had slipped on a new outfit for the day although it followed the style of her usual pencil skirt and tight blouse with a curious plunge. She always chose white although always added in a splash of purple to make things interesting, tying her purple heels to a matching choker and bracelet combination. He supposed he could see why patients and workers alike at the hospital had a difficult time paying attention when she was at the front desk; she played into her looks and threw in an attitude to match, making her almost cunning and predator-like to anyone who didn't know how she worked.

Luckily he had a few months of experience though and wasn't so easily fallen to her look.

"Well that was quick."

"I got shampoo in my eye." she replied. "It was painful and ruined the whole experience for me."

"How unfortunate."

"Don't patronize me."

Chuckling briefly, he pushed himself from the counter and moved to grab two cups from the cabinet behind him. "Come on, we're taking the coffee to go."

"Do we have to? Can't we just waste a few more minutes, get there late and tell everyone the alarm clock was off?" she offered, watching as he split the coffee pot between the two cups before he offered one of them to her, which she gladly took.

"I have a full day ahead of me, can't really afford to look the other way with it." he remarked. "Besides, you need to get your hours in before you take the afternoon shift off."

"Ugh, fine."

* * *

"Good thing you got here when you did, Mr. Henderson's going to be in in about fifteen minutes." Millianne started about as soon as he got to his office door; he guessed the woman covered the nightshift and was working only part of a morning shift to cover her remaining patients. He couldn't really remember what schedule she had signed on for but knew she didn't really seem to care with either morning or night shift.

"That'll give me enough time to send an email off to the city." Ishida remarked as he fumbled with the keys in his jacket for a moment before he managed to pull them loose. "On second thought, I probably need to give myself a good hour of prep time ahead of it to make sure I don't say something I might regret later."

"Or you could tell them that you're engaged but there's no wedding in the immediate future." she reminded. "I know a few people who were engaged for years before they finally walked down the aisle."

"See, it's the whole 'walking down the aisle' part that I don't want to experience at any time, near or distant future."

The older woman gave a brief chuckle as she continued on her way, carrying a bundle of folders in her arm as she usual did at this hour. "What is up with men not wanting to marry these days?"

"It's mostly the women involved." Albert butted in as he nearly ran into the woman while he was coming down from the opposite end of the corridor; seemingly busy enough in his papers to not see where he was going, but still able to listen in on the conversation. "No offense."

"You know that phrase is useless when the first half of your statement is already offensive enough." Ishida commented before he pushed the door aside and stepped into the room. "And no, it has nothing to do with that, I just don't see myself wearing a ring."

"You could put the ring on a necklace."

"Shut up Albert."

"Necklaces are in this year."

"Don't you start either, Millianne."

* * *

She ended up wasting as much time as she could at the front desk, doing as little as she could in the few hours she had left in the day. All she had to do was wait until noon and then… she was off for a minor shopping spree. After batting around a few ideas all this morning, she and Tatsuki ended up settling with simply stepping out to the nearby shopping center for a few hours. While the two of them had only met up a few times before, they had a fun time talking and sharing stories with one another. They figured sharing a day with one another would be fun enough since they both had difficult working schedules and they could probably use the day off. She wasn't going to hesitate, she was always up for time off from work and she'd be the first to admit she didn't have all that many female friends- especially not now.

Hmm, she wondered if she could convince him to let her go an hour early for the hell of it.

He was apparently going to be busy all day with patients, which wasn't new but that usually meant she'd have to deal with the paperwork and setting up follow up appointments. If he could just write them down though and hand them to her later, she could put them in the computer and send out voicemails or something. That was a good excuse not to work now though, which she was all up for.

Picking up the phone, she dialed in his office number and waited briefly for the other line to answer- although she didn't consider if he was off with another patient though. A faint click said that she had managed to get him when he was still at his desk.

"Stop calling me when I'm just a short walk down the hallway." he sighed. It was barely noon but his tone already sounded as though he was exhausted.

"Yeah but if I walk myself down to your office… I might take advantage of a closed door." she remarked as she traced a small circle onto her desk with the eraser end of her pencil. "Hey look, it's kind of slow up here, can I just leave now and make up for it another day?"

"Considering you took part of the day off without really giving the twenty-four hours call ahead of time, I don't see how I can let you take an extra hour off as well." he started.

She gave out a playful scoff and a roll of her eyes. "I thought sleeping with the boss would make my job easier."

"Please tell me you didn't just say that in the waiting room."

"Oh please, no one heard me. And even if they did… what's it matter? You should be proud of yourself for getting someone like me." she retorted, chuckling lightly at the sound of his faint groan on the other end. "So is it a yes or a yes?"

"I don't know… I'm still kind of at odds with this whole thing."

"Really? We're going to play Mr. Conspiracy Theorist now? After everything we've dealt with up to this point, you're worried most about me hanging out with one of your friends?" she remarked, giving off a subtle click of her tongue at the end of her words. "Look honey… we're just going to shop around for a bit, do girl talk, maybe get our nails done, that's is."

"… Tatsuki is not the type of girl to get her nails done."

"Well then I can just get my nails done and she can laugh at me during the process. How about I buy a nice piece of lingerie for the both of us-"

"Okay, okay, you can take the extra hour off, just please stop talking like that in the waiting room; I have to deal with the city enough as it is, I don't need someone to turn in an awkward complaint about the front secretary."

She chuckled lightly and tapped the pencil in hand. "Thanks sweetheart."

"Don't mention it- and I really mean that."

* * *

The shopping center itself wasn't all that impressive but it was enough to be entertaining for a few hours, just to waste the time. She remembered shopping here a few times with Nell and Harribel… although at the moment, she supposed she really didn't want to remember that. Come to think of it, she didn't think she had ever been here without either of those two with her- actually she did come here once before with Szayel but that trip didn't last long; she was glad for that.

Humming lightly, she made her way down the mostly empty walkway and casually skirted the few lingering groups with her eyes just in case the woman was standing near one. On second thought, she hadn't thought to call the woman ahead of time or even set up a place to meet at… she usually drove with whoever she was hanging out with, so there was no need to search around for each other. Man, she really should've thought this one out, but judging from the crowd, the woman couldn't be that difficult to find in the first place. She just had to look for a short, black-haired athletic woman… it'd be like looking for Loly, except Tatsuki would more than likely have clothes on.

"Hey Cirucci, over here."

She paused briefly at the call and looked around until she spotted the woman walking towards her. Her dark hair was still wet and weighed down from a recent shower. A loose pair of sweatpants hung to her waist and fluttered down to her comfortable-looking slip-ons. She had slipped into a black leather, corset-looking piece that looked a bit more like her usual type of wear; it certainly helped to accent her chest and slender waist, as well as her toned shoulders and arms.

And suddenly, she felt a little overdressed for this occasion.

Tatsuki frowned briefly before she gave a short chuckle, one hand moving to ruffle her still heavy locks. "I was going to say that my last pair of jeans were still in the washer but… I think you'd still make me feel underdressed even with them."

"Well, I just snuck out from work and barely had time to get to my car, let alone find a change of clothes." Cirucci remarked. "We can always just buy a new outfit here anyways."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." she nodded. "Where do you wanna go first?"

"There's a great store on the second floor that has an amazing shoe selection, let's go there."

Out of the few people who were here, both she and Tatsuki seemed to be the loudest ones- which she guessed really wasn't much of a surprise; she was pretty loud by herself and could probably get away with having a conversation by herself. But Tatsuki seemed to match her easily and the two of them shared the few pieces of information about their days so far.

"So I managed to talk him into letting me go even if I was on schedule for the rest of the day." Cirucci remarked, slightly riding the railing of the escalator as it took them to the second floor. "I know, not as entertaining as your full morning judo contest."

"Actually we just had training this morning, we won't be hosting another tournament for a few more weeks; I'll be fighting if you want to drop by." Tatsuki offered.

"Of course… there's nothing I love more than seeing a bunch of people beat the shit out of each other in a glorified ring." she humored with a brief chuckle, sliding back to her feet just as the escalator reached the top. "Actually, I do enjoy a good fight every now and again; I've got a friend, Dordoni, he used to participate in bare knuckles matches in back alleys. Really fun to watch but you gotta be fast when the cops show up and you gotta be quick to stitch those wounds up too."

The darker-haired woman gave a brief shake of her head and followed her off the top step and around the corner railing. "Did you ever participate in some? You've got some pretty slick arms, those don't always come naturally- especially for a secretary."

She chuckled briefly and gave a slight roll of her eyes. "Well… uh, let's just say that being a hospital secretary was not my first job. I took some exotic lessons and may have drabbled in the experience of becoming a dominatrix…"

"Are you serious?" Tatsuki questioned, giving off her own laugh. "Well, I could kind of see it. Do you have your own costume and whip?"

"Just the whip."

"That is… very interesting. I did not know I would ever discover something like that about you."

"Well hey, who knows, maybe some poor sucker out there will recognize me as making a test dummy out of him."

"… Figuratively?"

"Who knows."


	50. Chapter 50

"So… how have things been?"

Cirucci chuckled briefly at the slow question as she thumbed her way through the rack of clothes in front of her. She didn't really need another outfit for work, but… well she couldn't resist looking at a few cute blouses just the same. Most of them weren't really 'work-friendly' but she didn't care much for the rules and no one had called her out on it yet. She had already pulled a small collection of them free and had them hanging over her forearm for now; if she managed to stumble across one more, she was going to try them on and weed out the selection from there.

"Well, you know." she started easily enough as she pulled free another hanger, holding up the white blouse for closer inspection. "He's a doctor and the sex is great."

"Wow…" Tatsuki whistled with a brief grimace as she mindlessly shuffled through a few stacks of jeans nearby. "You know he's been my friend for years now, but I still don't think I want to hear those kinds of things about him."

"You asked." she reminded, eventually setting the blouse aside- unimpressed with it after all. She waited a few minutes for the woman to continue about her shopping and casually passed a glance around the near empty store; the store clerk looked bored with her job and found some form of entertainment in an old magazine. "I think he would be disgusted with me if he knew how many times I've had imaginary sex with him on a daily basis."

The woman had to stifle a sudden chuckle and immediately shook her head in response.

"We did it this morning."

"Alright, alright, you guys are doing fine, I get the point!"

It was her turn to laugh as she moved on to the next available rack and shuffled through the different colored materials. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm a very open person." she remarked. "Or at least, for some cases I am."

"Well I can certainly tell that you're not shy to talk about sex."

"Probably because I'm so good at it." Cirucci shrugged, earning yet another shake of the head from the darker-haired woman. She smiled to herself and loosely paid attention to the new run of blouses here- none of which were in her colors. "What about you?"

Tatsuki mused with the brief question and drew out a pair of jeans from the bottom of the stack, slightly spilling over the ones on top. "Fine. It's mostly just day in and day out at the dojo. I opened up a new class last week and let me tell you, I had to set up a different appointment to accommodate all the people who showed up. Didn't think it would be that popular but every class has been filled for this month."

"Are a majority of these classes filled by men?"

"No, it's about an even split."

"Well there went my theory." she replied, eventually draping one more blouse over her arm for the fun of it; it was probably going to look hideous but she was in the mood for a good laugh. "Is the sex at least good?"

"What? No, we're… we're not that kind of dating." Tatsuki started, stumbling over her words for a moment before she distracted herself with a few shirts nearby. "We're not even dating actually."

She gave a light nod and slowly worked her way back through the racks until she was almost standing in front of the woman; it was easy to note her forced, stoic expression, but… the light hint of a blush pretty much killed it. "But he's cute."

"I haven't noticed." she continued, pulling loose a shirt just for the hell of it.

"Right…" Cirucci replied, drawing out the single word. "Well hey, if you two ever hook up, we can do another double date, except go some place really nice and fancy."

"I don't really do well in those places; I hate dressing up."

"Oh, you can say you hate dressing up, but just wait and see what he looks like in a suit and you'll want to go out more often." she chuckled before she carefully shifted the small collection she kept over her arm. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have a few things to try on."

"A few?" Tatsuki repeated. "Looks like you have half the store on your arm."

"They should really be sending me thank you cards."

With that, she left the woman to continue her search for jeans while she weaved her way through the racks of clothing towards the back of the store. She pushed her way through a narrow doorway and into the long corridor of collective doors, all of which were left open. Well, at least she had the entire dressing room to herself then. Shoving aside the first door to her right, she dropped the stack of blouses into the nearby chair and used one foot to close the door behind her. She gave into a subtle stretch before she started to unbutton the front of her shirt, pausing just slightly at her phone going off.

"Are you kidding me?" she whispered with a brief groan before she shrugged off her shirt and tossed it onto the back of the chair before she moved to shuffle through her purse. It better not be work… although she did technically cheat and take the day off without following the proper procedure, but that didn't seem to matter now; it wasn't something they'd call her over anyways. Accepting the call, she balanced it against her shoulder as she moved to retrieve the first of the blouses she picked out. "This is the definition of being attractive speaking."

"Really? Is that really how you answer your calls?"

She paused slightly with her arm through one sleeve and waited a moment for the voice to settle. Her lips contorted into a short frown before she straightened up, leaving the blouse halfway hanging off one shoulder. "Well someone sounds jealous. Mad that you're not the definition of an attractive being?"

"No, it's just a ridiculous- oh forget it, this isn't what I called you about."

"Then what do you want from me, Nell?" she questioned before she shifted the phone to her other ear and finished slipping into the blouse. "You wanna harass me some more? You wanna not invite me to the popular parties? That's fine, I'm over it."

A momentary silence on the other end of the phone was broken by a sharp exhale.

"Alright look, is there somewhere we can talk? Harribel and I just want to sit down and talk this whole thing over."

"Ooh, that sucks because I've got a busy schedule all week and absolutely no free time." Cirucci started, leaning back slightly to keep the phone balanced while she tried to button up the rest of her shirt. "You know how hospitals can be."

"Then why are you out shopping?"

That voice… was eerily close by and certainly did not come in through the phone.

Holding a brief frown, she started back towards the door before she thought better of it. Picking up the selective blouses, she carefully placed them on a nearby wall hook before she moved to stand on top of the newly open chair; the extra height was just enough of a boost to peek over the top of the changing room wall. And in doing so, gave her the perfect vantage point to overlook the two woman standing just on the other side of the dressing room door.

"Wow, you two can royally go fuck yourselves." Cirucci remarked, causing the green-haired woman to jump slightly while her blonde counterpart simply glanced up towards her. "Here I am just trying to enjoy myself and ignore that the rest of you even exist and… you have to go and try and screw with me."

"You haven't even listen to our argument." Nell huffed as she closed her phone and stuffed it back into her bag. "We're serious here, okay? We just want to talk and get over this awkward state we put you in."

She continued to hold her frown while she crossed her arms over the wall of the dressing room. "Well then, I suppose I'd be willing to listen. What do you have to say?"

It was Harribel's turn to sigh briefly as she moved to cross her arms. "Alright look… the call was unexpected, it jumped ahead of schedule, we didn't have time to call you. It was handled decently enough, but… there's still a good chance one of them managed to escape. The reason we called everyone over that night was because we needed to discuss the details we had and figure out where we went wrong, since you weren't involved in the initial strike, we couldn't talk it over with you. Yes, we made the decision not to call you about it; yes, we decided not to allow you to get involved. I understand that pissed you off but… the decision was necessary at the time."

She nodded briefly with the words before she moved to toy with her nails for a moment. "Go on."

"Regardless, the fact still stands that a third party has been introduced and we have to tighten our boundaries. We can't afford a single slip up, we're lucky to have made it this far." Harribel continued. "And as if to make matters worse, you're hanging out with yet another link that has been seen with several Shinigamis."

"I was wondering when the blame was going to come full circle here." Cirucci remarked with a sharp click of her tongue as she pushed herself away from the wall for a moment. "I understand that you don't want me to royally fuck us all over but believe it or not, I don't tell the Quincy everything- believe it or not, I can still keep a good secret. But sure, if you don't want to trust me, even after all these years, then that's your choice. And if that's your choice then there's not much I can do about it- besides rage and curse you behind your back. Now then, if you'll excuse me, I want to finish trying out these blouses and then continue on with this fun and eventful day."

"We're going to have another meeting tonight… you need to be there." Nell spoke.

"I'll think about it."

"Cirucci-"

"Alright, alright, I'll be there." she interrupted. "Can you leave me alone now? Tatsuki is probably wondering what's taking me so long."

The blonde haired woman gave another shake of her head before she stepped back and started out of the cramped corridor without another word. Well… she was going to be fun to deal with later on- in fact, everyone was probably going to just be bundles of fun.

"That color doesn't really suit you, I wouldn't bother with it." Nell remarked.

"Yeah, I wasn't really feeling it all that much either." Cirucci replied with a brief shrug. "Have you lost weight recently?"

"Ugh, it's about time someone finally noticed." Nell chuckled as she moved to set her hands against her hips. "I'm still working off those last few pounds, but I'm almost there."

"Well hey, when you do, we can go on a shopping spree." she offered.

"I could go for a new wardrobe or two." the woman nodded before she finally stepped back and moved to follow after the blonde. "I'll see you later on tonight then- right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be there." she replied before she watched as the woman stepped out just the same, eventually disappearing from view. She gave a shake of her head before she moved to lean against the wall once more. "I hate the both of you so much right now."

"… Do I want to know what that was all about?"

She glanced down at the next question and took note of the slightly questioning look Tatsuki was giving her as she stood in front of her door; several different pairs of jeans tossed over one arm. "Did I tell you I was involved with organized crime?"

The woman narrowed her eyes briefly before she moved to take the room next to her. "Well I guess that would explain those back alley fights you were talking about before."

Shaking her head once more, she stepped off the chair and stripped off the shirt she had on before she moved on to the next. "Actually it was just a few friends making sure that I remembered to join a party later on."

"Somehow I get the feeling that you don't want to go."

Was her tone giving it away that much? Hmm… perhaps she should be more careful with her words- or maybe she should just stop trying to hide it. She gave out a rough sigh as she grabbed for the next shirt and slipped it on, struggling briefly with the tight material. "Well…we kind of had a falling out because of.. 'trust issues' and I'm not exactly eager to go back just yet. But a group of us are getting together tonight and they want me to join so we can all hold hands and forgive each other. In all honesty, I'm probably going to lose my temper and leave."

"Sounds like fun." Tatsuki remarked.

"Well that's what I get for having so little experience with female friends." Cirucci replied with a blunt chuckle. "I forgot how easy it is to piss all of them off with one action."

"That's why I never really had that many female friends." Tatsuki admitted. "I mean, it was mostly just Orihime and Chizuru, occasionally a few others but they never really stuck around long. I think it was because they couldn't handle my attitude or maybe I was just too headstrong for them, who knows. "

Orihime? That name sounded familiar… but where?

"In my lifetime, I've had a total of… seven female friends, but that's just because I came from an area that didn't have the greatest female population anyways." Cirucci added as she fitted the material more suitingly around her figure before she overlooked it in the mirror. Hmm… not half bad, she could find a really cute skirt to go along with it. "Those two were the ones I could relate to the most, but that doesn't mean we still don't have our times of argument." in a sense, she wasn't lying nor was she giving anything away. "Friends can be difficult, I'll tell you that."

"Oh believe me, I know." Tatsuki chuckled. "Seems like most of mine have gone their own way though."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Orihime's off at a college out of town and doesn't visit as often as she used to. Chizuru is studying abroad… I don't even remember where, she's gone to so many places now; last time I spoke to her, she described the experience as 'studying broads' and was trying to find the best one to sneak through customs." she continued. "Ichigo's pretty much disappeared for the most part, I talked to him a few days ago but that was about it. As far as I know, it's just Ishida, Chad and myself who remain. And like I've mentioned before, Ishida's difficult enough to get a phone call to with all the work he deals with on a daily basis- and now with you added to the mix as well. So really, it's just Chad and myself hanging out when we can."

She gave out a low whistle as she pulled off the second shirt and hung it up for later purchase. "I was not expecting that story to have a kind of bittersweet ending like that."

"Sorry if it bummed you out." she remarked.

"Nah, I know what it's like to have people move on and forget about you." Cirucci assured. "It sucks but you just have to deal with it. I've had people leave, disappear, die, get murdered… oh wow, let's avoid another unhappy ending here. Uh, what was the point of this story again?"

"These are some terrible jeans."

"Really? Because these blouses are amazing so far."


	51. Chapter 51

He wasn't expecting her to be back for the rest of her shift, figuring she'd take the day off for herself, so he didn't bother checking the front desk for her. However, when the stacks of folders on his own desk started to become troublesome in organizing, he was forced to move some of them to hers; she could take care of it the next day. He already had reports finished and signed, he would just need her to finish off the rest of the paperwork and get that placed in the system. It wasn't much to rush about and even if it was, it wasn't like he could do much about it.

However, he paused briefly as he made his way down the corridor, catching sight of her seated in front of the computer. It was odd but… he supposed he couldn't complain.

"I'm surprised you came back." Ishida remarked, leaning briefly against the wall next to her. "Date didn't go well?"

She offered a light chuckle as she moved herself away from the computer and slowly spun her chair towards him. "No, it went just fine; we had fun buying stuff we didn't need and eating things we shouldn't. But then her boyfriend showed up and I figured they might want some time to themselves."

"She… doesn't have a boyfriend." he slowly replied.

Pushing herself to her feet, she moved to take the folders from his hold, gently placing one hand against his shoulder. "Awww, well maybe one day you'll understand."

He watched curiously as she took the folders and moved back to her desk, seemingly willing to get to putting them through the system- which was odd. In fact, come to think of it, the files that had been on her desk that morning were already gone… which meant she had put them through and then placed them back into storage. He continued to stand there for a moment, unsure if what he was witnessing was really the truth here. "Okay first off, what does that even mean? And secondly… are you feeling okay?"

"Oh you know, it's just a language." she remarked, not really helping the situation with her words. Placing the folders down in front of her, she dropped back into her chair but didn't bother to straighten herself up afterwards. "As for how I'm feeling, I am absolutely miserable. I mean, I'm using work as a distraction and it's actually working." Fingers moved to cradle her temple for a moment, eventually spreading out to cover her forehead. "Is there anything else for me to do when I'm done with these? Like, can I organize someone's desk or something?"

Okay… he wasn't expecting that.

"Was it something from the date?"

"Ooh, tough question. Yes and no." she nodded before she moved to ruffle through her loosened strands. "Can we not talk about it now though? Not really comfortable with it in a public area… actually not really comfortable with it at all. It's just a mess of all sorts of things and I'm still trying to piece it together myself."

She always had a way of giving him enough of an answer that could still provoke about a dozen more questions. But… she seemed sincere about this problem; physically, it was easy to tell that she was bothered by something. It was just a question of what though.

But he wasn't curious enough to question her about it, not now anyways; it would put him on her bad side for sure and he didn't feel like running with that kind of risk right now. Instead, he gave her a brief nod and turned to go. "My shift ends at seven but I have to come back around eleven to get a few more things finished off."

"Sounds like fun." she replied with a hint of sarcasm before she watched as he started back towards his office. "Hey Quincy?"

"What is it?" he questioned as he turned back to her just in time to see her tug up the hemline of her skirt; revealing some kind of… lacy product underneath it.

"Have fun in your office." she remarked with a brief grin before she moved to smooth out her skirt once more.

"You are impossible."

* * *

He had to admit she seemed less upset about her problem by the end of the day; she had somewhat resorted back to being herself- not without completing every file that came across her desk though. She even hunted down a few reports that were late and managed to get those in before she clocked out; hell, she even cleaned out some of the overflow in the supply closet and helped some of the nurses get their documents finished up. He'd almost be willing to say that he wished she got upset more often… it would be great if the hospital could work with that kind of efficiency more often. But… personal reasons came before business and he didn't like seeing her so twisted over something.

By the end of the day, she decided to drive herself back with him and ended up parking on the street instead of in the driveway. It wasn't much but it was the little details that got to him, that stuck out to him. He tried not to make much out of it though and just let it go.

"Sounds like you've got a busy schedule tonight, I hope you don't mind me missing." Cirucci remarked as she followed behind him through the front doorway.

"How do you know I have a busy schedule?" he questioned, remembering that he had only mentioned a small portion of it earlier.

"Because… I looked it up in the system."

He paused briefly to hang his coat up on the nearest wall hook, watching as she continued on past him; choosing to toss her coat onto the couch instead. "My schedule is only available in a locked branch of the system. I'm the only one with that password."

"… Okay, okay, I may or may not have hacked it, but does it really matter?" she asked, shooting him a light grin over her shoulder. "By the way, I loved that email you sent to the city about the whole misunderstanding."

"You got into my mailing too?"

"I needed something to do, okay? And I didn't think your branch of the system was going to be that easy to get into… but it was and then I couldn't help myself." she explained. "Don't worry, I didn't look into too much, your stuff was boring and hard to understand anyways."

He shook his head and continued on his way down the corridor, making the turn towards his room. "You know, every day it seems like you're turning more and more into one of those psycho girlfriends."

"Well, they are the best in bed."

Yeah… she was okay now.

"You got any plans for the few hours you're off?" she questioned, pausing just briefly in the kitchen for a moment as she pulled off her heels. "Because if not… well I can adlib something or two to pass the time."

She really was insatiable.

One hand moved to push through his hair as he chuckled briefly at her remark. Just a few hours ago, she looked physically drained and now she acted like she could run a mile or two, like nothing was wrong in the first place. He moved to slip out of his work shirt before he slowly made his way back to where she seemed to be lingering about in the kitchen, probably making another pot of coffee. "Was there something you wanted to talk about earlier?"

"Oh come on, don't change the subject." she chuckled as she moved to take a glass from the cabinet; she paused about halfway up though with the glass half balanced against her fingertips. "Oh shit…"

For a moment, he thought she was going to let the glass topple down and hit her in the face.

Luckily she caught it in time though and managed to push it back into the cabinet. Once that short moment of panic was over though, it left him with another one to deal with. "What is it?"

She bit into her lower lip for a moment as she slowly settled herself back on her feet after having to stand on her toes to get to the cabinet. She completely forgot about the meeting tonight… shit. It was almost like she completely forgot about seeing Nel and Harribel overall. Shaking her head, she pushed the cabinet back closed and moved to gather her shoes from where they had been kicked off. "I just remembered that something came up earlier and it's important business that if I don't attend to now… bad things will happen. And I mean that in a sense that bad things may happen to you, not me."

He narrowed his eyes slightly at her remark and watched as she hurried to try and get her heels back on as she half hopped her way back towards the front door. "Do I want to know?"

"It's a long story." she offered. "Look, I love you and I'll see you later tonight after this ordeal is over with. I might stop by your office but if I don't, I'll be in your bed when you get home."

He barely had time to say much else before she was out the front door. He gave a few seconds before a low sigh escaped him and he moved to push up on his glasses. Knowing her… it was probably something he didn't want to know anyways; something he didn't want to get involved with. He could probably get in a decent nap before he had to report back- which would be easier now since she was off doing her own thing.

Still though… whatever she was talking about had him curious.

* * *

She had gotten so used to following him home and enjoying in a few hours of physical entertainment that she completely forgot about the meeting. Not that she was really all that worried about it though… it's not like they usually got that much done anyways; they usually talked for a few minutes and then argued for the rest of the time. Really productive.

She ended up speeding her way back to the house, running a few traffic lights and she might've ran one person off the road, but that was still sketchy. Fuck, she didn't even know why she was rushing… it's not like she really wanted to be there. The whole situation had probably blown over though- hopefully anyways. They didn't typically linger on one thing for too long, there were always more important things to deal with after all. Besides, she was still certain that they were in the wrong anyways, but she was tired of arguing about it. She just wanted to let it all go… even if it was impossible to do that much.

Finally making it back to the correct neighborhood, she lost her nerve and ended up circling the block for a few minutes longer. She was more than positive that she was going to lose her temper and possibly physically harm someone though. She knew Szayel was going to find a way to push her buttons and push her in the wrong direction just to get a reaction because he was a sadistic bastard like that.

The driveway was packed with cars so she ended up having to park on the street anyways before she forced herself towards the front door. Jeez, she could already hear them inside without even getting up the porch yet. Drawing in a deep breath, she held it in her chest as she pushed her way through the door and started towards the crowded living room.

"You've got ten minutes to keep my interest and then after that, I'm gone." Cirucci announced as she paused briefly just behind one of the couches, arms moving to cross over her chest.

"I don't think that was part of the deal." Nell started.

"There was no deal, all I said is that I would be here and I am, we never settled on how long I needed to stay." she remarked. "All I'm saying is that if this meeting turns into another fight about me and my business… I'm leaving and you'll be lucky if you see me here again."

"Always so dramatic, aren't you?" the voice made her cringe slightly before she turned to see where the pink-haired man was standing in the kitchen behind her; a half filled cup resting in one hand. "But you just brighten up the atmosphere around here so much, it's hard to complain."

Gods, she hated his sense of sarcasm.

"Oh Szayel, how I've missed seeing your stupid face in the morning." she returned just as bitterly.

"And I missed seeing your stupid ass."

"Can we get back onto topic here?" Nell sighed.

She really didn't want to, but then again, she didn't even know what they were going to be talking about anyways. Giving out a long sigh, she slowly stepped around the couch and took one of the few free seats that was still available; fitting herself between Nell and Menoly. "Alright, alright, fine… what's there to discuss?"

"Well we got ourselves into a lot of shit with that last incident." Menoly remarked as she pulled herself into a heavy stretch and almost ended up pulling herself off the couch in the attempt. "Right now, it seems like we're in the clear but… who knows. At this point, anything is possible."

"Here, why don't I tell you guys what I know and then you can fill me in?" Cirucci offered. "… Then again, I know nothing about what happened because I was not informed, so hop to it."

"I'll give you the quick version." Menoly replied, cutting off a few of the others who had started to step in to answer her. "Uh, a couple of days ago, or weeks, whichever, we had to respond to a last minute, late night call; we tried to act accordingly but let's face it, we fucked up a lot. Anyways, we got the job done… or at least we thought. Turns out someone here didn't tighten up their loose ends and one of those scouts managed to get away for us. That's what we were trying to discuss that night when you walked in on us."

It took her a careful moment to dissolve the woman's words and she frowned briefly at the given information. And considering no one tried to object to what Menoly said… she could only guess that it was true. If that was the truth though, they were in a lot more shit than she originally thought. She assumed they had fucked up somewhere, but to this extent? "Are you serious? I thought you guys could've handled something like that with no problem? We've dealt with worse shit before but we never let someone walk away from it. Why didn't anyone call me?"

"You didn't answer." Nell answered.

… Shit, she didn't take her phone with her that night, didn't she?

Damnit.

Fingers moved to rub at her temples for a moment as she tried to get her thoughts under control. Alright, alright, no need to panic… if there haven't been any other signs of activity so far, that meant they were still under the radar for now. "Well… nice going guys."

"Do you see why we couldn't speak with you afterwards?" Harribel questioned.

"Not really, no." Cirucci remarked.

"One of their scouts returned with clear confirmation of our presence and while we haven't picked up on any activity… that doesn't mean they're not out there." Menoly explained once more, eventually scooting her way back onto the couch. "They have insiders in this world, insiders who don't register with an energy source we can detect. Which means, if we can't detect them, then we can't know if we're interacting with them, which means they could be getting inside information on us. We only know a small handful of them, or at least we know what they look like and that Quincy boy of yours is one of them. Whether he likes it or not."

She refused to admit it but… it did make sense now, at least when it was said in that manner. Or maybe she just had time to calm down and think it through. Giving out a half-defeated sigh, she pushed her head back against the cushion behind her. "So… now what? Any plans, Oh Great Ones?"

"That's why we're here tonight." Szayel remarked. "We've made it this far without any problems, but that doesn't mean we're in the clear."

"They're more than likely doing the exact same thing we are." Starrk spoke from the far end of the room; one hand partly supporting his head as he stayed half slumped in a chair. "The only difference is that they've got more control over this situation than we do."

"True and false." Ulquiorra denoted, sitting only two people away from the dozing man. "They may retain control in a physical sense but they cannot seek us out so easily as they did before. We blend in perfectly with our environment and with the crowds, it would take some extensive searching on their behalf to even get close to our presence before we hide our trail again. It's time and effort on their half, wasting energy on a senseless hunt. However… it brings the question of just how much longer will we wish to run away in this rabbit chase?"

"Let's face it, we're all pretty fucking tired of running but we don't have a lot of options right now. Not a lot of _smart _ones." Aaroniero started as he moved to lock his hands together behind his head. "So we either keep running or we give up the ghost and shoot ourselves in a mass suicide pact."

That sounded about right, sadly enough.

"Look, we can discuss deep meanings and ways of death later… we have plenty enough on our plate right now." Nell interrupted. "Can we just… figure this out first? I don't want us still discussing options when this problem comes knocking at our door."

"We need to keep a low profile, be aware of where you are and who you're with." Harribel replied. "We know what a majority of their scouts look like, but these new people will be harder to distinguish. We have a brief advantage in the fact that these insiders don't know what we all look like either, however that more than likely will not last; just as well, they don't know how many there are of us."

"How many were present with the scout who got away?" Cirucci questioned.

"Only four as far as I know." Harribel answered.

"Well hey… if they want to pick a fight, we could take them."


	52. Chapter 52

**A/N: My computer shut down unexpectedly one day and I lost the entire chapter, so after sulking for a few days, I tried to retype it. Lost the original drive and idea behind it, so I'm having to let it simmer for a bit and figure out what I'm missing.**

She said that she would be in his bed by the time he got back from the late shift, but seeing how quickly she hurried herself out the door, he told himself not to expect it. She probably had her own agenda to keep to and he didn't want to know what it was. Well, that was a lie actually but… he'd try his best to not think about what she was doing; it was her business to deal with and he was going to try and stay out of it.

Work proved to be a great distraction for once, even if all he was really doing was getting a few reports done and holding a small meeting with the midnight nursing staff. It was just a short talk about certain etiquettes to take into consideration when sending emails within the hospital. There had been a few incidents of wrong addresses being written down and unprofessional languages, as well as someone sending an email out to everyone when it should've been to just a small handful of people.

Not to mention, someone was still taking the floor cleaner out for a spin when the custodians weren't around- although he had a pretty good guess on who that was.

But distractions could only last so longer and despite his own warning to not expect anything… he still did regardless.

He wasn't sure if the sight of the empty bed filled him with disappointment or maybe slight relief that for once he could get a full night's sleep.

Tired fingers loosened the tie around his neck and tossed it over the back of a chair before they moved to unzip the front of his shirt for what felt like the tenth time that day.

He had been a rather solitary kind of person for most of his life, always preferring to keep to himself and never really venturing outside of his own realm… and yet, he really couldn't remember the last time he had slept by himself. While part of him was glad for it seeing as he had a night to avoid Cirucci's rather 'unique' sleeping habits, usually where she insisted on pressing some part of her body against him, or the occasional time where she kicked him or stole the sheets… part of him found that he had gotten used to them at this point regardless. So, in a sense, the night would be different without them.

Or maybe he was just going crazy.

It was one night apart, that was it. There was no need to get completely broken up about it. Knowing Cirucci, she was probably just out getting whatever needed to be done off her back and spending her time carelessly. Like she always did.

* * *

A long groan escaped her lips as the sunlight glared through the thin blinds closest to her. One hand numbly moved to grab the pillow beneath her before she folded it over to cover her face, hoping to at least shield her eyes. Her entire body felt numb and at first, she wasn't entirely sure what the hell she had done the night before. All she did was attend that stupid meeting and then… what happened?

Oh wait, yeah, they might've drank a little afterwards, or maybe halfway through when they couldn't settle on any ideas.

Well, at least that would make work interesting.

She tried to stretch her body out as best she could before she slowly reached her arm over to the open side next to her. When her fingers tumbled off the edge of the mattress though she found herself stopped once more. Slowly pulling the pillow away from her face, she looked over to where her hand was half hanging off the empty bedside before she slowly glanced over to the space behind her. It didn't take long for her to realize that… this was her bed, in her house.

She never made it back to him last night.

Goddamnit.

Groaning once more, she shoved her pillow off her bed before she rolled back over; feeling one leg slide off the edge of the bed and hit the cold floor below. This was just not her day. Well she was on that subject though, she glanced to where the alarm clock was sitting on her bedside table and cursed once more that the neon numbers flashed a quarter past ten. She was done with this morning already and she was barely out of bed.

Okay well… they would just have to deal with her two hour tardiness- actually, might as well make it three hour tardiness. Well, it wasn't anything new, so no one at work should be surprised by that.

Pushing herself up, she swung her other leg over the edge of the bed and forced herself to her feet. Alright well, she needed a shower, that was a no brainer and then a new uniform and… if all went well, she could speed off to work. But it was always that last step out the door that would prove to be the most difficult for her.

Stifling a small yawn, she shuffled her way across her bedroom and stripped off her sleepwear along the way. One hand fiddled with the shower knobs while the other fought to get her hair loose from the bindings she kept in last night- which was a big mistake on her part. The near scalding water helped to wake her up and ease the stiffness from her sore muscles. Fingers pushed through her tangled locks and tried to fight the knots they had gotten themselves into.

Shutting off the water, she tugged loose a towel from the outside rack and wrapped it around her wet form as she stepped out. Wringing out the loose droplets from her hair, she pulled the strands back into another hair band before she clipped them up and out of her way. She stepped back out into her room and hurried to her closet, which she threw open to scour for a new uniform for the day. She guessed the one advantage of being back home was that she now had her full stock of clothes now, giving her more options than usual.

A majority of it was just tight-fitting skirts and revealing blouses, which usually cemented her wardrobe together, but she liked them best so it didn't matter. Today though, she could risk changing it up a bit though.

Fingers tugged loose a fitted dress from the hanger and tossed it onto the bed behind her before she reached in to grab a new pair of heels as well. Drying off her still damp skin, she moved over to the nearby dresser to grab a pair of stockings from the top drawer. Maybe she was dressed a bit over the top but… oh well, after the whole aftermath of last night, she just wanted to dress nice and create a scene somewhere else.

She was halfway through slipping into a new set of undergarments before she noted the purple lingerie piece lying on the ground; she had bought it yesterday and had intended on showing if off that night… before other matters got in the way. Come to think of it, she never got the chance to make a show of it either. So many wasted opportunities. Damn.

Shaking her head, she pulled on the rest of her outfit and made her way out the door.

Now for the difficult part. If she could make it down the stairs and out the door without someone calling for her… then she'd be good. Then again, everyone should have left after the meeting, but if they had been drinking then there was a good chance some of them were passed out on the couch downstairs. Hopefully they were still like that.

She considered taking her time down the stairs to reduce noise but decided to just fly down them as quickly as she could. If anyone questioned her reasoning for such… well she was three hours late for work, that seemed like a good enough reason.

But just as she thought… it wouldn't be that easy.

"Are you kidding me?" she whispered as she looked down at the seemingly melted form of a white feline that laid right in front of the door. She watched as the cat squinted at her for a moment before it rolled over and stretched out even more before it fell back to sleep. Shaking her head, she stooped down and lightly grabbed the feline around the midsection before she slowly pulled her out of the way- never once disturbing the cat's nap. Grabbing her jacket on the way out, she quickly eased herself out of the door and closed it behind her before she was off the porch and headed towards her car.

"What's with the rush?"

She paused slightly at the question before she noticed the blonde-haired woman leaning against her own car; judging from the slight disarray of her jacket, it looked like she had just hurried to get herself together before she left. "Well, I'm currently three hours late for work and seeing as I've made it a habit to overlook my work schedule… can't say that I'm in the best standing for my hours right now." Cirucci answered, fighting briefly to get her keys out of her jacket. "Plus I need to get away from here."

"Hm, I know the feeling." Menoly remarked with a brief chuckle. "I'm tempted to get on the highway and never look back."

"If you do, take me with you." Cirucci chuckled as she continued across the yard.

"We'll see." she replied. "Hey, if you're not busy later on this week, you wanna get a beer?"

"That sounds fantastic."

* * *

Work wasn't any different when she finally walked in, and she wondered why she bothered to rush to get here in the first place. The waiting room wasn't even full, only a few people were present and from the looks of it… none of them were in a great emergency anyways. Man, what she wouldn't do just to walk in one day and see someone in complete pain or with blood spewing out across the floor.

Actually, that was kind of fucked up… but at least she'd be semi-entertained by it.

From the looks of it though, the morning hadn't been busy anyways seeing as her desk was still empty; there should've been at least one folder present. Was this going to be another one of those days? At any other time, she would've loved it but… she was kind of in the need for a distraction and she was hoping at least someone here would be able to do that for her. She should probably stop depending on other people though- which was pretty evident after that meeting last night; she couldn't even depend on them to handle a simple task that might have their lives depended on it.

Great.

Hell, if Menoly was serious about that skipping town ordeal, she just might ride along with her.

It'd be less stressful than staying here.

"Hey, about time you showed up."

She glanced up at the remark, realizing that she may or may not have just been sitting at her desk staring emptily at the nearest wall. Jeez, the people waiting must've thought she looked crazy. "Oh, uh yeah… I…" great, what was she supposed to lie about now? Hadn't she used up most of her excuses by this point? It was Milianne though, she tended to be easy to sway at times. "Family issues." she finished.

"Something wrong?" the older woman questioned.

"The usual." she replied. "Someone's leaving, someone's dying and someone's pregnant… and somehow I feel at fault. With exception of the pregnant part, I'm not the father- come to think of it, I didn't try to kill anyone either, so the dying part isn't me either."

"Well, I was just going to offer my condolences and go on my way… I didn't think you were really at fault behind any of those- but the reassurance of such is nice." Milianne started. "I hope it all works out though."

"Me too." Cirucci remarked with a brief nod. "And if not, well… I gotta skip town."

"Well I hope it doesn't come to that, at least with you around I have someone I can bounce Albert's stupidity off of." the woman chuckled. "If you want an update on what's been going on so far, we've been busy dealing with emergency cases for the most part; there was an accident on the highway about an hour ago, a couple of cars crashed together and one of them flipped off the road. Not a pretty sight."

Shit… she didn't hear anything about it on the radio.

Actually… she had turned hers off the night before, so she probably missed out on all the reports.

"If that's the case, then why aren't you back there helping?"

"We've got about fifteen nurses crammed back there in the emergency units." Milianne answered. "I'm here to do post-surgery evaluations and make sure they're taken care of when they leave the ER. The last thing they need back there is an old lady like myself arguing and pushing everyone around. Believe me, it's just easier this way."

"I'd believe it then." Cirucci chuckled. "I guess I won't be speaking with the doctor anytime soon then."

"Not unless it's something important, then we can call him over the intercom, but then everyone would hear it."

"Hmm… it's tempting." she mused. "But I don't think anyone wants to hear about our dirty laundry."

"Literally or figuratively?"

Oh, that was a good question. She gave a light hum before a shake of her head followed. "Uh… figuratively. It's just one of those situations where no one really did anything wrong but we still need to talk about a few things. Nothing really important though, I promise."

"Well let's hope not because the other girls are all geared up about the wedding." Milianne teased.

"And I'm looking forward to the honeymoon."


	53. Chapter 53

"Hey uh, you've got one more patient waiting for you in the E.R."

He had to restrain the thought of striking the man at those words. One hand moved through his black hair and held them away from his face as he tried to straighten up the front of his jacket. "I just finished stitching fingers back on to a man's hand… who else could there possibly be for me to help? I've gone through all the wreck victims, checked them out and sent them off with the nurses, was there another wreck? Someone I somehow managed to overlook?"

The blonde-haired nurse stood there for a moment with a somewhat restrained expression on his face; he almost looked like he was wincing, as if hesitating to give an answer. "Well uh… some lady just showed up actually. Like just now. She requested you though and I told her I would give it a shot- I did warn her about the whole situation this morning though… and warned that you probably weren't going to be in a good mood. But she insisted."

Releasing a heavy sigh, he gave a brief shake of his head. "Fine, I'll tend to her. What's her problem?"

"Hell if I knew."

Of course.

"You're a big help, Albert." Ishida remarked, with an undertone of sarcasm. "Go check up on Mike Douglas at the end of the hallway and see if the swelling on his eye has gone down yet. Do you have a file on the new patient?"

"She asked for you and that was about all I could get from her."

Oh great, one of those patients.

He gave a slight nod and pointed the nurse in the correct direction of the room before he made his own way towards the E.R. lobby. There was nothing quite like walking into work expecting to deal with a few appointments for most of the day only to have the police call him about two hours after he unlocked his office. Five car wreck on one of the highways. Seven people were injured and only three of those were critically injured- he guessed they were one of the first hit or at the bottom of the pile. The other four were admitted with broken bones and a minor concussion for one of them; he recommended that they remain admitted to the hospital overnight at the least, just for precautions. The other three had kept him preoccupied well throughout the morning, but they were stable and taken care of for now. The police were all over the place again and he had to relocate them out of his way a few times. Gods, the last time the police were here was for that whole stabbing ordeal almost a year ago- and he couldn't say that he had missed their presence. He understood that they needed to get their reports and statements from the victims but he was trying to look out for his patients and their health came before the paperwork.

Gods, he hoped he didn't have to deal with them himself again.

Rounding his way around the next corner, he tried to ignore that some of the E.R. nurses were sitting around at their computers; looking somewhat guilty as he walked by. They had their hands full with trying to separate and take care of the victims beforehand so he would cut them some slack this time around. As a stark contrast to how the E.R. looked hours before, the lobby was relatively empty with the exception of a few patients sitting around. They rarely had any desperate emergencies and most of the people who came in through the E.R. were for minor house accidents. The worst he had seen, in terms of those kind of accidents, was one guy who came in and had somehow cut his arm with an electrical knife; he just required stitches and a nice dose of painkillers.

From what he could tell… no one seemed desperate for his attention.

"Ishida!"

… Oh Gods, not this scenario again.

He slowly turned towards the voice and felt himself cringe slightly at the action before his sights landed on the orange-haired woman who was just pushing herself to her feet. Judging from the towel she had pressed against one forearm… that was probably the reason she was here.

"Weren't you here before?" he remarked as he slowly made his way over to her. "I think that's the same arm you fractured."

"Ha, I actually think it might be." Orihime chuckled before she lifted the arm with the towel pressed against it. "I was in the middle of cutting something and somehow managed to trip and fall. I'm not entirely sure how it happened but somehow I got cut."

"Well, I can tell you that you're not the first one to do something like that." Ishida assured. "Let me see what you did to yourself here."

She offered her arm to him and when he pulled off the slightly stuck towel, it revealed the narrow gash that tore into her forearm. It didn't look all that serious but it certainly was bleeding all over the place. The slight bruising around it did back up her story that she had fallen though… not that he was questioning her in the least bit.

"Couldn't you have just healed this yourself?" he remarked. "If you don't mind me asking that is."

"Well, I was entertaining a few friends from my classes and they kind of saw me fall, so I couldn't just heal it with them watching." Orihime started. "And then they were telling me to go to the emergency room, so… I kind of got stuck with coming here."

That actually made sense. "I didn't even know you were in town."

"I just got here last night and pretty much passed out as soon as I got home." she chuckled as she moved to brush aside a few of her loose strands with her uninjured hand. "I've got a date with Tatsuki and Ichigo tomorrow though, do you think you'll have time to join us?"

Again, he cringed.

"Uh, not sure to be honest; we just got in a group who was in a car crash this morning; they're going to need my attention." he answered before he tried to tag on something a bit more hopeful. "I'll see how things go and if there's still time, I can catch up with you guys at a later time."

"That works."

"Great, now what isn't going to work is that this gash may require some stitches."

* * *

Her fingers twisted lightly in a loose strands of hair as she stared blankly at the computer screen in front of her. What had been windows upon windows of filing reports and empty spreadsheets she needed to fill out, turned into the third game of Solitaire for that morning. Each game felt like it took her about an hour to finish but most of the time she wasn't even paying enough attention; often times taking breaks every ten minutes and then forgetting what her next move was going to be when she got back. With most of the back corridors busy with nurses, she couldn't exactly go back there to see if he was done or not. She guessed so since they were taking their appointments now and calling people back despite the mess.

He probably needed some time to calm down though and get his space back.

So until then… she had Solitaire.

She didn't even pay attention to the doors opening or the footsteps of someone approaching her desk to sign in.

"You suck at Solitaire, there are better ways to pass the time."

She jumped slightly at the closeness of the voice and snapped around to see who it was, only to pause briefly when she came eye to eye with the woman. Chuckling, she shook her head and fell back against her chair. "Didn't you get enough of me this morning?"

"Really? You're going to say that in front of people?" Menoly questioned before she pushed herself from the desk and straightened up; hands moved to smooth out the wrinkles in her leather jacket.

"Are you using the term 'people' loosely? Because besides you and me, there's no one else in here." Cirucci remarked. "What the hell are you doing here though? Do you have an appointment?"

"Does it matter? No one else is here." Menoly remarked as she walked back to where the chairs were pressed up against a wall and grabbed one, which she dragged back to her desk. "Even you said that."

"Well… the doctor is busy, so good luck."

"You are a real help, Cirucci; I can see how you got this job."

She chuckled once more and scooted her chair a little closer to her desk. "But really, why are you here? You going to take me to lunch or are you trying to spy on me?"

"A little bit of both." Menoly answered before she gave a brief wave of her hand. "Actually I am here for an appointment, I just used a fake name when I called in."

"Oh, well that's not interesting at all." Cirucci huffed lightly. "What's wrong with you this time?"

"Remember when I had that surgery a few years back where I had to get part of my liver taken out?" she questioned. "Well, it's been giving me problems again, but I think it's the scar tissue acting up this time; I figured it wouldn't hurt to get it checked out anyways."

She gave a brief nod before she stretched her arms in front of her. "Who knows, it might be another tumor knowing your luck."

"Gods, I hope not." the blonde-haired woman scoffed lightly. "The first time was bad enough to deal with, I don't need a round two for it."

"Yeah, but remembered how worried we all were? We sent you flowers when you were staying overnight in the hospital."

"You sent me a card that asked if you could have my stuff when I died."

"… Hey, that was a very nice card and I had to talk Nnoitra out of sending you a gun instead, so I think that should toss a few more points my way."

"No."

"Well it was worth a shot." Cirucci replied.

The blonde-haired woman stifled a small yawn before she leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. "So… what did you think of the meeting last night?"

"That everyone there was jealous of my sex life." she retorted.

"… Maybe they were, I don't know. I'm pretty happy with mine and a pack of double-A batteries relationship." Menoly remarked, watching as the purple-haired woman had to put her head down for a moment. "I guess we all can't have a forbidden relationship and great sex though. Some of us have a line to follow and we have to be boring."

Cirucci waved her hand to cut the woman off as she tried to straighten herself back up. "Forget I said that. We are in my workplace and while, this isn't the strangest thing I've heard, it is the most interesting and it would go great with a cup of coffee but I'm clocking out on my hours enough as it is."

"Hey, I think a beer would be better but apparently it's too 'early' for one of those."

"Fuck that, never too early for a flask though, you should look into investing in one."

"I emptied mine on the way over." Menoly chuckled before she leaned back in her chair once more, tipping it slightly onto two legs. "Jeez, what's taking so long? I can't be in here forever, I've got things to do."

"You've been here for like five minutes." Cirucci reminded.

"Hey, busy schedule."

"Oh, like what? Gotta buy more double-A batteries?" she teased before she glanced back slightly at the sound of voices coming down the back corridor. One of them, she could easily pinpoint, but the other… was a mystery. So who was he talking to? It was probably just one of the nurses or a patient though, no one of interest. But something about it sound familiar, like she had heard it before. "Well hey, in a few minutes, you can see my boyfriend and figure out why the sex is great."

"I thought it was just because he's a doctor and at that point, what does it matter?" Menoly remarked, earning herself a middle finger.

She snorted slightly at the blonde woman before she turned in her chair just in time to see him walk from around the corner. At one side was a strange, orange-haired woman, but she had a feeling she had encountered her before- oh wait, yeah, she was the one she made the remark about her deserving an award for acting so stupid. Yeah, it was coming back to her now. And, slowly after the realization, she held a sense of hate towards the woman. "Good afternoon, Doctor." Cirucci called. "Hope you weren't too lonely without me last night."

Almost immediately, she watched him cringe and watched as his face flushed slightly. "Ugh… Good afternoon to you as well, Miss. Sanderwich."

"You could put a little more emotion into it, but that's okay." she replied with a slight shrug. She started to speak once more, but stopped when she noticed that his orange-haired friend seemed a few shades lighter now; she even seemed a bit… unbalanced as well.

"Hey, what is this? A party or something?" Milianne remarked as she made her way around the other two before she turned her attention to the near empty lobby. "Is Miss. Lee here?"

She jumped as Menoly shoved herself to her feet, almost knocking down the chair beneath her before she started towards the nurse. "Right here." she called before she seemingly outpaced Milianne herself and disappeared down the corridor.

Ishida frowned slightly at the brief encounter, wondering what could've gotten a patient so worked up, before he took note of Orihime's expression; it looked to be a mix of fear and surprise. "What is it? What's with that look?"

Orihime held her silence for a moment, as though trying to get over the encounter herself before she looked to him."That was… that was one of _them_." she whispered.

He was about to question her before the words seemed to click inside of his head. "How do you know?"

"Because I saw her before." she explained, taking in a deep breath to calm herself. "Remember when I was kidnapped? Well... she and another one, a black-haired girl, had their fun beating me up."

... Well he wasn't expecting that.

"Look I… gotta go." Orihime ushered. "I'll uh… I'll see you tomorrow night hopefully. Thanks for the help."

"Well you came to the hospital, I can't exactly tell you to go away." Ishida remarked. "But uh yeah, I guess I'll see you tomorrow if I've got the time."

She nodded before she started across the lobby; she was halfway out the door before she turned back around. "Oh hey, Tatsuki told me you got a girlfriend, you should bring her along; I'm sure we'd all like to meet her."

She was gone before he could object to the thought of it.

"I'm not going." Cirucci announced as she stretched one leg out and lightly kicked him. "And just what is this 'date' thing you guys have got?"

"Who was that woman you were talking with?" Ishida questioned in return.

She frowned and felt herself almost kind of cave in on the inside. Here she was, always caught in the middle of things and... it was only getting worse now. And it would continue to go downhill from here if they didn't do something. If she didn't do something. Shaking her head, she pushed herself to her feet and grabbed him by the arm, leading him back down the corridor. "... We have a lot to discuss."


	54. Chapter 54

He had a feeling those six words were going to be the death of him. She had a way with words and those words were usually a death sentence for him.

But his curiosity outweighed all else…

If Orihime was correct in identifying the woman as a former Arrancar, then that was going to put him into an awkward position. Which meant, if he did decide to go to that date night tomorrow, things were probably going to be a bit more tense as well. What was he supposed to do? Just shrug it aside and act surprised? While he had personally never seen the woman before, although she did seem vaguely familiar somehow, he did technically know that she had to have been one of those numbers Cirucci had given him earlier. It played a minor role in why he wasn't exactly excited to see the others… and why he wouldn't want to get involved with them anyways- which really wouldn't seem suspicious to them; after all, he had turned down plenty of offers to go back.

But what else was there for her to tell him?

He knew she kept plenty of secrets about their… presence and he let her keep those because he didn't want to be burdened with them. He figured it was something she could keep to herself without his interference- after all, he didn't want to get involved anyways.

"We can speak in my office-"

"No, it's too noticeable; people will keep interrupting us." Cirucci interrupted as she continued to drag him by the arm before she moved to shove aside the closest door on her right. "Here. This is perfect."

He nearly ran into the opening door and barely managed to get through the small opening as she forced him inside. At least no one was around to see this happening. Looking around, he frowned slightly before he looked to her next. "Really? The supply closet? This is more secure?"

"Hey, it's still clean from when you organized it months ago, right? If there was a lot of traffic going through here, then it would've been a shithole all over again." she remarked.

Damn… she had a point. He gave a slight nod in response before he gave the room one more look around. "Well, we haven't locked ourselves in here in a long while. I think the last time was when you were still trying to seduce me."

"Yeah, never got to bang you in here though." Cirucci mused as she briefly set her hands on her hips, looking as though she was reminiscing on the place. "Alright well uh… back to business here…"

"You could call it that." Ishida replied. "Unless this has something to do with what we discussed before and I said that I didn't want any part in it-"

"Too late for that." she interrupted once more, turning back to face him now. "Because, what just happened out there in the lobby… that screwed us over. A lot. I don't know how badly or how quickly that fire is going to spread, but it will be a hell storm."

He winced slightly at her remark before he moved to cross his arms over his chest; trying to figure out how this conversation was going to end for either of them. "Well… let's not waste anymore time then."

She gave a low roll of her eyes before she moved to walk around the room to keep herself calm. "Alright, I'm going to try and get through this as best I can- which is kind of easy because we were all talking about this last night. Come to think of it, I told them that I wasn't going to share all our secrets with you, but basically I am right now. Oh well, they can go fuck themselves."

Well, at least she could still entertain herself.

"Alright, that girl you were with is one of many we've nicknamed 'Insiders.' They're the people who still have connections to the Shinigami world; they never really cut the cord… like you kind of did. So, the moment the Shinigami world feels that something seems off in the human world, they'll give them a notice and ask them to look around. It beats having to send out their own forces to do the dirty work. Plus, they still maintain a sense of trust in these people. We don't know what they all look like but we know what traits and actions to look for. It makes our job harder since most of us were encountered by numerous people in our past lives; but those of us who weren't… well, we've got it easy. Dordoni, Gantenbainne and myself don't really have to worry since, for the most part, only one person fought us. In this instance, only you know my name and what I look like, which works out to my benefit. I usually work as a spy whenever we think we've come across an Insider, but most of the time we don't have enough evidence to prove it. Anyways, that encounter out there… well now they know there's more of us. And seeing as Menoly wasn't entirely high rank, they're going to assume that everyone above her has a high chance of being reincarnated as well. She was rarely seen, but the one person she encountered before… just happened to be the one person to see her now. Which, you know, what are the odds? I don't think they've got any information on her to be honest, but she was number thirty-four and if they have that, then they're going to assume that the amount of Arrancars who were brought back are between four and thirty-four. With larger numbers, they'll have to start upping their own numbers, which heightens the risk of being caught. Again, not much of a problem for me being spotted but definitely an obstacle for the others. Not to mention, if they do get a positive sighting, then they'll try more… aggressive tactics- which actually brings me to my next topic. Are you keeping up with all of this?"

"Yeah, I think so." he nodded slightly, although unsure completely of all the information. He'd feel more confident if he had a day to think it over first and then get back to her on it. "Although it does frighten me to think about what you're going to cover next, because this… is a lot to take in."

"Oh, I haven't even gotten to the good stuff." Cirucci chuckled lightly as she leaned back against one of the shorter cabinets before she lifted herself onto it. "So… for the past few years, the Shinigamis have been sending off their little exploration teams to keep the human world in check and make sure it's all going well- hoping to run into our presence eventually. A few times, they got too close for comfort and we barely managed to escape them. One time though, we let our guards down too soon and they thought they struck lucky. But we… weren't ready to go down without a fight; we didn't want to experience death again, so we fought back. I don't think they were expecting that, but they were still able to keep the upper hand on us for the most part. And then, we killed one. And let me tell you, I have never seen Shinigamis panic as quickly as those ones did. But since we couldn't stop there… we killed the rest of them before they could signal to the rest of their units. Looking back on it now, we were dumb as rocks; we should've known better than to think we were home free. And of course, those deaths only gave them the confirmations they needed, so they kept sending more and more of those teams out here. Half of us left town to avoid recognition while the others played as normal as we could. We were pretty good at it too."

"Whoa, whoa… what?" Ishida started as he stepped forward towards her. "You guys actually took out Shinigamis?"

"Yeah, that's a whole other story though- that I don't want to get into." Cirucci remarked. "Right uh… where was I? Oh yeah. Anyways, we tried to play normal and act like we were a part of this world now, but… things turned to shit real quick. They sent more units, more aggressive Shinigamis who posed too many threats to us for us to ignore. So… we felt like we had no other choice." she paused slightly and leaned back on her palms; crossing her ankles in front of her. "We attacked them before they had the chance to track us down- often times hitting them just minutes after they arrived. Eventually, we set up this entire schedule and set up teams and… made dates out of it really. It's kind of messed up actually, I don't even know how many people we killed, but it's in the high double digits. So far, we've been really good with covering our tracks and keeping ourselves hidden… until recently."

"... What happened?"

"Well, remember the night of that party we had here at the hospital?" she questioned, watching as he nodded in response. "That same night, there was a surprise appearance of Shinigamis and the others rushed together to get the matter taken care of. Unfortunately it didn't go as well as it should had and one of the Shinigamis escaped. Now, at most, he would've only seen four of us, but… it's a confirmed visual sighting now; and confirmation of aggressive behavior. Which I guess the body count before didn't really affect them until they saw us doing it. Anyways, some of our members got injured as well but they couldn't catch the Shinigami in time. So, they know we're behind it now and it's only going to make it worse. More than likely, that's why we might see an update in the number of Insiders walking about… they're just trying to fill in the blank spaces too."

He had to lean against the nearby cabinets to keep his balance during her words. It just… it didn't seem like this was happening; he wasn't even sure if he could listen, let alone, believe her words. "If they saw one then… yeah, they'll try to track you down and find you."

"Exactly, so we tracked them down first." she nodded. "And the reason everyone was so upset over the whole thing with us is because they still label you as an Insider and they're pretty certain that you're going to doom us all. I backed you up and defended us, but… they're pretty set on it. But I figured, that since you know who the Insiders are, maybe you could give us their names or describe them for us… It'd be to level the playing field a bit, even if we outnumber them."

He stood there for a moment before one hand moved to cup his face, pushing his glasses up in the process. "You're telling me that… this entire time you've been here in this world, you've been running from the Society? And then, when you were through running, you decided to fight back and enter a rather dangerous playing field here? A field where your opponent knows everything about you but you know almost nothing of them…"

"Yeah pretty much."

He almost couldn't believe the confidence she posed in her answer, then again she had been doing it for so long… it seemed only necessary at this point. Keeping one hand cupped against his face, he tried not to let himself come to terms with just how deeply rooted this problem was going to be. "… How does a human have the power to overthrow Shinigamis?"

It was her turn to frown slightly before she moved her eyes from the floor to over to where he stood. "Well, two factors go into that one; the first being, believe it or not, that we weren't always alone in those fights. I don't know why, I can't explain it- hell even Szayel can't explain it but… Hollows started to show up when we were engaging with the Shinigami units. We didn't call them, we can't even speak with them, but for some reason, it's like they're trying to protect us. Which is very strange to us because we've lived that kind of life, we know what it's like to be at the bottom of the food chain; charity acts were never performed or witnessed. They helped to get rid of some of the Shinigamis though, so all those deaths weren't on us- and maybe that's why the Society didn't jump to the conclusion of our presence here. Maybe they just witnessed the higher number of Hollow spottings and assumed those were the ones behind the growing death count."

Gods, as if the first half of this conversation wasn't bad enough… now there was this.

Still, curiosity continued to urge him forward.

"What was the second factor?"

The color from her face seemed to drain slightly as she moved her sight to look to the wall in front of her. "Well, the second factor would be… a little white lie."

It took a moment before his hand slowly pulled away from his face and he looked over to her. "What white lie?"

She chuckled slightly, although it sounded dry and forced. "I… uh… wow, this is going to be hard to say, but… I lied."

"Lied about what?"

Again, a hesitative pause.

"About us… being completely without our powers."


	55. Chapter 55

Yeah… her words were true in writing out a death sentence for him.

He swore his blood turned cold and thick in his veins; clotting and suffocating him from the inside out as his mind shut down at the words. He wasn't entirely sure if he actually heard her correctly or if doing so just completely stopped his thought process. Gods, it felt like the entire world around him just ceased to exist after that.

He didn't even know how they got here in the first place, how they were able to exist let alone… still maintain their powers. And not just maintain some of their powers, but enough power to be able to take on Shinigamis and win. For a moment, he wondered what else she had to tell him before he realized that he didn't want to know- he was almost afraid to know what else there was to know.

"We keep it sealed to where no one can sense it- even we can't sense each other and it's in very rare cases where we release it." Cirucci started. "And even then, we get it over as quickly as possible and seal it back before anyone- hopefully- notices it. So far, luck's been on our side…"

He could barely hear her over his own thoughts.

He still wasn't entirely sure how to… get through this situation yet. Hell, he didn't even know how to handle it from the very beginning and it had gotten worse since then.

A mild beep overhead signaled that someone was activating the intercom- which he was surprised it still worked seeing as they barely used it. "Doctor, you're wanted in Room 211."

It must be a pretty serious case if they called him over the intercom for it. How long had he been in here anyways? It couldn't have been for more than ten minutes or so... actually, come to think of it, a lot of things could've happened in that time period.

But… at least he had a distraction now.

"I… have to go." Ishida slowly started as he pushed himself to his feet. "- Not because of what you said, even though that may play a small part in it, but uh…"

"The intercom called you, I understand." Cirucci nodded, trying her best to form a brief chuckle with the obvious words. "And… I don't blame you for needing some time to get over this whole situation. I know I dropped a lot on you in a short amount of time and probably not at the best time either, and everyone is going to kill me if they figure out I told you."

"Well they're not going to find out unless something happens and I need to speak with them." he replied.

She watched as he seemed to hesitate briefly, as though confused on what to do next, before he moved towards the door and started to pull it open. "What if something does happen? What do we do?"

That was the one scenario he was kind of hoping to avoid, but at this point, something about it seemed inevitable. Knowing his luck, it would happen. "I don't know, we'll cross that bridge when we have to." he answered with a brief shrug before he stepped out into the hallway, letting the door close behind him.

Okay, he recovered better than expected but still… he felt a bit detached for now.

Shaking his head, he forced himself down the corridor outside and made his way to the called room. It didn't sound like the room number of any of the wreck victims, which was good, but also had him wondering who it was this time. It must've been the patient that Milianne had with her earlier.

…

Who was another former Hollow…

This was just his day. He couldn't get away from them- it was like he was drawing them in or something. Then again, he worked in a hospital, he had probably crossed paths with them before. Actually… that was a frightening thought, he didn't want to even imagine that right now.

He eventually put his head back together and figured out where he was trying to go in the first place. He wasn't that far off, but if he hadn't stopped himself just now, he probably would've ended up in the maintenance rooms in the back.

"Hey man, where were you? We were looking all over for you." Albert questioned as he mingled around the room door like he was some kind of babysitter for the patient.

He highly doubted they were looking all over for him. They had probably spoken with the patient and when they figured out he wasn't in his office or at the front desk, they panicked.

"I had to pick up some more sticky notes." Ishida lied as he grabbed the patient file from the door clip and flipped through it- not bothering to see if the man believed his words or not "What's the problem?"

"She's got some scar tissue inflammation." the blonde-haired man replied, seemingly believing his words. "She had a minor operation a couple of years ago apparently, so that would explain it. Not really much we can do but prescribe some pain medication and hope for the best- which is why I called you."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." he nodded. "Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on Mr. Douglas?"

"Hey, his eye is okay and his vitals are stable." Albert assured. "He said that he was a tourist who's just visiting around and doesn't remember what exactly happened at the time of the wreck. It turns out we're both from the states though and-"

"Albert, I don't mean to be rude, but I have a patient waiting and she's been waiting long enough." he interrupted as he moved to open the door. "Just remember some of those details when the police come in, they're going to need it for their reports."

"Aw man, I don't want to deal with them again."

That was pretty much everyone's thoughts right now.

Shaking his head, he pulled the door open and stepped inside just to get away from the conversation. He had a lot on his mind right now and the last thing he needed was to be bogged down by Albert- which sounded a bit cruel. Mildly flipping through the clipboard papers, he closed the door behind him and tried to find where Albert might've scribbled his notes down in the margin. They weren't that difficult to miss though seeing as they had been written almost completely sidewise; forcing him to turn the papers slightly just to read them. "So… Miss. Lee, I've been told you've been having some internal scar tissue problems."

"I had part of my liver taken out a couple years back, I guess it didn't heal properly or something because it's been burning like hell with these past few weeks." the blonde-haired woman answered as she leaned back across the examination table and pressed her shoulders against the wall. "But that doesn't really matter, does it?"

He cringed on the inside and wondered if he should just walk back out the door or not. But then he'd have to deal with Albert, who was more than likely procrastinating on putting details together for the police report. Sighing briefly, he figured he might as well just throw the towel in. "Would you prefer if I played dumb or just showed you all my cards?"

Something about her mismatched eyes just seemed completely piercing and he swore he felt the temperature in the room drop a few small degrees.

"There's no sense in playing dumb, we both know about each other." Menoly retorted as she pushed herself from the wall and straightened up. Hands slightly tugged on the front of her white jacket. "I faintly remember seeing you before."

"When?"

She seemed to wrinkle her nose in thought. "On top of the tower right towards the end of the battle, with Yammy and Ulquiorra- and those two dumb, orange-haired bitches."

Well, that was quite the description but he had a feeling that he did know what battle she was talking about. He remembered a black-haired woman and maybe a glimpse of a blonde-haired one as well, he wasn't sure.

"I was the one who got her bones and organs crushed and then tossed off the top of the tower."

Oh. Yeah, maybe he did remember her then.

"I see…" he slowly nodded. "I can't confirm that sighting but you do seem somewhat familiar."

"Yeah, but I guess it's not really important." she spoke as she moved to brush her fingers through her short locks. "I heard Cirucci really ripped you one in the battle beforehand though; I kind of regretted missing that one."

He chuckled faintly at her words and tossed his clipboard onto the small counter behind him- trying not to remember that battle on its own accord. "She did a little more than that. It took me months to recover from that battle and I still have nightmares from it."

Not to mention the occasional scar tissue flaring up from time to time, and the inability to treat it properly, but those weren't necessary details.

"The only difference now is that you roll over and meet that nightmare." Menoly remarked.

Wow, he was not making this conversation any easier for himself.

Not that it would've been easy in the first place...

"What can I do?" he questioned.

She narrowed his eyes as if suspicious of his question and pushed her lower lip out slightly. For a moment, he swore she held a look to kill and seeing how he had no clue what her power type was, she probably had a good chance at doing so. It took a few seconds before she slightly relaxed her expression, dropping the killing look but keeping the overall look of displeasure. "Do you speak to that girl you were with earlier?"

He... really should've seen that one coming.

"This is the second time I've seen her in this year alone probably." Ishida answered. "I can't say that we really talk though, most of the time it's just random phrases and words." he paused briefly before he chose to continue. "They haven't really mentioned that much about your 'kind'; there was speculation but they were still investigating the rumors."

"Well it's not going to last forever… especially with that chance encounter earlier." she remarked with another shrug. "Now that she knows for certain herself, the news will spread like wildfire."

He couldn't deny that, he had a feeling they had been drawing ever so closer now. It'd be a lie to say that he wasn't panicking over it... he was certain he wouldn't even know what to do if something happened. What he and Cirucci would do... or what would happen to them if it all fell apart. Setting the clipboard on the counter behind him, he moved to cross his arms. "If they choose to make any plans, they'll more than likely involve me in on the planning."

She seemed to lean forward briefly and whether that was out of interest or just trying to relieve her back was unknown. "And you could tell us if they're getting close or not."

He nodded briefly in response. "And… if they were, I could… release those plans to you."

A light frown caught her lips once more and she pushed herself back now; something about her expression seemed different now... it was less displeasure and the need to kill and more so... something. "You're caught in the middle of this whole mess, aren't you? That's gotta be tough."

If he could, he'd be able to easily fool himself into thinking her tone was almost concerned. But he honestly had no idea how this woman reacted on a daily basis and from what he had witnessed so far... she didn't seem like the caring kind.

"Yeah it's… something like that." Ishida remarked with another short sigh. "I don't exactly want to betray anyone, but I don't want anyone to get killed either. I wouldn't say that I'm on good terms with either sides right now- actually I wasn't on good terms with anyone before that final war either. I didn't exactly put myself in the right position to deal with this conflict, but I have to do what I can with it and hope it works out in the end."

For now, she seemed almost convinced with his answer.

"And if you hadn't be involved with one of us?"

He remembered when Cirucci had asked him that before and back then he had been almost adamant about his answer, but now… "Well, at the very least, you could've count on me doing nothing because I would've refused to have gotten involved." he started. "At the most… I think I still would've tried to help."

It seemed to take a moment before she gave a seemingly approving nod, finally breaking that icy hold she had created. "I see. Well, it's more than what we were expecting." her words stopped but it seemed like she pressed herself to keep going. "Just as a heads up though… if this thing does get out of hand, then expect a few deaths to occur before it ends."

See, that was the part he was hoping to avoid.

If he had chosen to not gotten involved with this matter, then maybe something like that wouldn't have bothered him. Or wouldn't have bothered him to any sort of extent.

But now... the thought of it made him question himself.

What if something did go wrong? What if some of them did die... What if Cirucci died or what if he got killed somehow in the midst of this? What would happen to her or the rest of them for that matter.

"I'll try to keep that in mind." he nodded; choosing to keep those thoughts to himself for now. Clearing his throat briefly, he pushed himself from the counter behind him. "Now then, uh, I should probably actually get around to doing my job here."


	56. Chapter 56

The police came and went without much of a hassle. As soon as they had the information they needed there was little other reason for them to stick around. It was a relief to finally have them leave- the place always felt so stiff and forced whenever someone in uniform was standing around with a notepad. He didn't bother to stick around and listen to what was beginning said; he just carried on with the rest of his appointments and took care of whoever needed him.

Cirucci stayed at her desk for the remaining portion of the day but he eventually saw her hanging out by the nurses' desks in the back; she didn't really seem to care when he tried to get her back to manning her own desk instead.

It felt like the end of the day couldn't come quick enough for them.

He actually took off an hour later than usual because he wanted to do one last check in on the wreck victims, but made a note that he'd probably be back sometime later that early morning. A couple hours of sleep would do him some good anyways. He didn't want to leave the new patients completely to the nurses, not that he had a problem trusting them… only some of them.

They left in one car; he didn't know who's it was, in the end he guessed it didn't matter anyways.

The drive back to his place was quiet and he wasn't actually sure if it was out of tension or just awkwardness. There was a lot for them to discuss, a lot for them to go over, details he wanted- needed- to know… and yet nothing.

Pulling up into the driveway, he cut the engine but didn't immediately get out of the car. "… Orihime invited me to hang out with the others tomorrow."

Cirucci chuckled lightly to herself and moved to brace one arm over the back of his chair. "Well that offer came at the right time, didn't it?"

"Depends on how exactly you're looking at it." Ishida replied. "I'm not entirely sure what to do or how to go about it… I mean, I'm stuck in the middle essentially and I'm having to choose a side here. It's not the choosing that I'm having a problem with, it's just… I don't know how the reactions are going to be; I don't know how the Society is going to react, what they're going to do in reaction. I don't know what they're capable of doing in a situation like this."

"Afraid something's going to happen to one of us?" she questioned.

"I don't think they'll immediately attack me." he admitted. "But they won't hesitate to strike you."

She nodded briefly and moved her fingers to toy with the loose strands of his hair. "Well… I'll be ready for whatever happens." she paused slightly before she continued. "Is Tatsuki going to be there?"

"Yeah, but so far she doesn't really have a clue about what's going on." he answered. "She's seen Hollows before, maybe two Arrancars at best but that's it… If all we're going to do is talk about the whole situation, then she still won't have a clue about you, but luck doesn't want to be on our side this time around."

"Luck has never been on our side." she chuckled lightly before she leaned over and brushed her lips against the curve of his jaw. "I think this would've been a more suiting pillow talk topic instead."

"I can't say that I agree." he replied as he leaned away briefly, only to have her catch him by the collar and draw him back in. "You always fall asleep in mid-sentence."

"That doesn't mean I'm not listening."

"I don't really see how you could be." he remarked as he unlocked the door and started to step out of the vehicle. "Either way, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow if something goes wrong. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to their little meeting, but I have a feeling it'd be best if I went regardless."

"It'd help make you seem a little less suspicious as well." Cirucci noted, pushing aside her own door as she pulled herself out. "Have you ever considered that they just might be watching you as we speak?"

Yeah, he had and the thought of such a question still brought a cold chill down his spine. Sighing briefly, he closed the driver side door and locked the car before he stuffed the keys back into his pockets. "I don't see any reason why they would be; I haven't done anything that would bring attention to myself and even if they were watching me… that's a bit intrusive- not that they care. But I hardly see the Society taking drastic measures like that so soon. I could be completely wrong though, there's no telling what they're doing right now."

"I guess it's kind of the same thing with us." she mused as she made her way from the other side of the car and eventually linked her arm with his own. "Except we really have no clue what we're doing and we just kind of make it up as we go."

"You'd be surprised with how often that tactic comes up." he replied as he lead her up the front of his driveway and towards the front door. "They've already seen you with me before so I don't think they'll suspect you of anything. I highly doubt that they think I would willingly hang out with a former Arrancar."

"A former Arrancar who kicked your ass." she added.

"Yeah… we'll go with that."

She chuckled once more and waited for him to unlock the door before she followed him inside, moving away just long enough to discard her jacket. "You know, it might sound odd, but… I think I'd be a little disappointed if Tatsuki left."

He paused briefly at her words and missed the hook he was hanging his jacket on, causing the article to crumple to the floor below. "Well uh… I was not expecting that- especially coming from someone like you. Which doesn't mean anything, I just mean that-"

"Oh no, don't worry, I feel weird about it too." she interrupted with a brief wave of her hand. "I don't play well with others. I have a hard time connecting with people and I just like being solitary most of the time- unless it's with Dordoni and Gatenbainne. We didn't make friends back then, we weren't really allowed to, so that kind of behavior carried forward with us- which is why this time around was so hard for us to get together. But we made due with it and forced ourselves to get along for our own sake. But, I don't know, Tatsuki and I have only gone on a few dates but we just made some weird connection- I think it's because we don't have a lot of friends anyways or all of our friends have left; we're both kind of loners anyways."

He shook his head and chuckled at her as he stooped down and picked up his jacket, placing it back in its proper place now. "Well I can't promise anything about this whole situation… I'll see how tomorrow goes, see what they know and go from there."

"Don't hurt yourself." she called back to him as she made her way towards the bedroom in the back. "Or at least don't put yourself into a dangerous situation. I can't always come running to your rescue."

"I don't think you ever have…" he started, looking up in time to see her disappear around the corner. Sighing, he shook his head before he locked the door behind him and slowly started after her. "This whole power thing though-"

"Augh!"

Okay, so that couldn't have been a reassuring noise. She was probably regretted the whole telling him about that portion of the story- he kind of regretted hearing it too. It just… left him with a lot of bad memories that he didn't want to go through right now. Walking into the bedroom, he noted the various articles of her uniform lying out the path she had taken up to where she remained partly collapsed across the bed itself.

"Can't we talk about something else? Like, I don't know, you getting that mattress we talked about."

Shaking his head, he leaned against the doorframe and worked to loosen the tie around his neck. "There's a lot that needs to be discussed about that in itself, but right now… I just want one promise."

It seemed to take a moment or two before she pushed herself from the covers, bracing her arms underneath her for now. She eyed him carefully, as if expecting him to make the most ridiculous request he could just to spite her. "Depends." she slowly drew out.

He was not surprised she immediately turned suspicious. "Do you have enough power to summon your weapon?"

"Maybe."

"Just… don't use your whip around me."

She cracked a grin and laughed to herself as she slowly rolled over onto one side, keeping one arm propped underneath her head. "You just ruined our anniversary surprise, now I'll have to think of another way to celebrate."

"That's not funny." he replied as he pushed himself from the doorframe and walked into the room, unzipping the front of his shirt as he made his way towards the bathroom.

"Okay, okay, fine, I won't use it around you- but that all depends on if I have it or not." she called after him as he stepped into the other room. She chuckled once more and rolled onto her back at the sounds of the shower starting up. "I'll make the promise, but you're going to have to come in here and seal the deal on it."

"Fine, I'll get you that mattress."

"You know what I mean."

"You can pick it out."

* * *

Her breath was hot against the curve of his neck as she stayed heavy against his chest; her fingers barely curled over his shoulders. He always found her look of serenity to be humorous when she slept. Sometimes with how she acted or the things she did, it was hard to imagine her being completely calm and still. But with her purple locks tangled between his fingers and her chest compressed against his own… it almost seemed natural for her. Then again, she was a creature of physical affection- a carry over from her previous life.

He heard a small groan leave her as she stretched briefly before she moved to resettle herself against him, leaning to rest more so against his right shoulder. Fingers moved to trace small circles against the bare skin of her back, feeling the remaining sense of heat still radiating from her flesh.

He had been so reluctant to have her, reluctant to be near her… so reluctant to admit how he felt. It had always been a whirlwind of confused emotions and inner conflict, but as soon as he had set it behind himself, it just seemed too easy to fall for her. And now he was at risk of losing her all over again. It was different before, but now… he couldn't even imagine not seeing her every day; he couldn't imagine rolling over and not seeing her. The night before had been the longest night of his life without her and he had been so stubborn to admit it, but it was.

Before, he would've been reluctant to even discuss this whole war matter, but now he knew what he had to do. Even if it marked him as a traitor, even if it turned the Society against him… it didn't matter; they hated his kind anyways, he was no different. In some kind of aspect, he was technically on the same side as the former Arrancars; there was no reason for him not to work with them.

Even if it got him killed.

If he had to die for her then… so be it; he would. If it kept the Society two steps behind them, then he wouldn't hesitate. As long as he was certain she would be safe afterwards, as long as he knew someone was there to take care of her, then he was okay with it. What else did he have to live for anyways? He worked the same job, different days, different hours, different patients day in and day out. He wasn't striving for anything, there wasn't any gratification at the end of the day. Sure he saved lives, helped those who needed it, but… that was it. It never really did anything for him.

He was okay with this decision.

If needed be… it was going to be okay.

Glancing down at her once more, he brushed his fingers against the curve of her cheek and watched as her nose wrinkled briefly in reaction. "… I told you you'd fall asleep."

* * *

The next day of work didn't bring on as much hassle as he thought it would. Most of the patients who weren't seriously injured were recovering well and were working their way to being released soon enough. Those who were still in the I.C.U. were stable and, while they hadn't regained consciousness yet, they were in no danger of showing a sudden drop in their condition. The nurses were running full shifts and most of them seemed to be on task with the things ahead of them, so he had no reason to worry there either. Which left him to his office for a majority of the day… with plenty of time to spare.

He guessed in the end he was going to be meeting up with the others.

He had been on the fence about it, but after the day before and last night… it felt like he needed to know what they knew. It made him feel odd seeing as he was technically abusing his position on both sides; using information from the Shinigamis to get the former Arrancars a few steps ahead of them. In a way, it felt like he was betraying them, which technically he was, but… he found it harder and harder to connect with them anyways; he couldn't say that he was ever really 'friends' with them, maybe at one point but not anymore.

He used to think it was easy to cut ties to the past, maybe he was wrong there as well.

There was time to worry and regret later though, right now he had some other minor businesses to take care of. Should this whole conflict escalade into a matter that went out of his realm of control, he would need support. If he left to help the Arrancars and got himself caught in a fight, then that could put him out for a few days and he couldn't just randomly disappear from the hospital like that- especially not when he was the only doctor on the board. But he had connections at least, there was always that to be thankful for.

Whatever amount of time he spent in his office was spent composing different emails and offers. He knew a few well-established professionals, as well as a few more who were still getting into the training and internship spin of things in the medical field. So… perhaps without the consolidation of anyone else in the building, he offered a small party of other professionals to use his hospital as means of training or perhaps just as a change of scenario. A few of his professional associates who lived further out seemed eager for a change of pace- remarking that they would like to step away from the larger, busier schedules they balanced and experience one that was more freely written. He knew a few of them who would willingly switch locations from time to time just for the experience and to learn a few extra tricks here or there. He told himself that he'd probably do the same in a couple of years if he ever got tired of how things worked around in Karakura.

By the end of the day, he already had several emails jumping at the offer with almost little to no question as to why it was suddenly thrown at them. He didn't feel an explanation was needed and if questioned, he guessed he could always say that something was coming up or that he needed to step away himself for a few days. As long as the patients and nurses were taken care of… then he could leave his position for now without any worries or regrets.

He just hoped he didn't end up being a patient here himself by the end of it.

The clock counted down to the final hour and when nothing else came up… it signaled that he could take his temporary break from the facility. The thought of going to meet up with the others still made him cringe, for the sheer fact now that he was almost certain he was going to say something or somehow give the Arrancars away. He was terrible at lying so that was another worry that he had as well.

Cursing silently to himself, he gathered his things and started out of his office.

"You making your way downtown?" Cirucci questioned, catching him just as he walked past her desk.

"Don't remind me." he replied as he turned back towards her for the moment. "Where are you going to be during this?"

She frowned briefly and offered a short shrug. "To be honest, I don't really know… I'll probably head back home for a bit and see what everyone else is up to. Knowing them though, it won't be anything good. Better yet, I might go see Dordoni and Gatenbainne instead, at least they'll offer me better company."

"Right, uh… I'll just call you afterwards then." he remarked.

"Sounds like a plan." she nodded. "Have fun, don't drink and drive, and… I love you. There you go, now get out of here."

He chuckled and nodded before he turned to leave. "Alright, alright, I highly doubt I'll get into trouble since that sounds more like you're kind of thing, but I'll keep it in mind."

He didn't really want to leave, but this whole ordeal was kind of important and… he needed to be there.

This little get together was scheduled to be at Orihime's place. He hadn't driven down that path in years now and was almost certain he was going to forget how to get there… but there was still a lingering sense of familiarity to it. If he wanted to, he probably could have reminisced on the few good times they all shared, but he chose not to. That was the last thing he needed to do at a time like this. He tried to keep focus on the road and remember the turns it took to get to the house. Even when he finally did arrive though, he ended up driving once or twice around the block just to recompose himself.

Tatsuki's car was already out front though. He had almost forgotten she was going to be here.

Parking out on the street, he took a few more minutes before he finally got out and started up the driveway. He was just making this more difficult for himself; he wasn't even sure if they were going to discuss any of these matters anyways. For all he knew, they were just going to sit around, drink and talk trivial matters like day to day things. Running his fingers through his hair, he moved up the front passage and brought his knuckles against the door.

He probably should've dressed out of his work clothes but… he didn't really feel like going back to his house just to change.

He could hear someone running towards the door from the inside and stepped back slightly as the doorknob shook while someone was trying to unlock it. A few seconds later, the door was pulled open to reveal the dark-haired woman he had previously forgotten about. The only matter being that she had a towel draped over the back of her neck and was dressed in little else but a pair of gym shorts and a black sports bra; revealing her strong, fitted physique.

"Took you long enough, you're late by like two hours." Tatsuki remarked with a forced frown before she turned back towards the rest of the house. "Ishida's here and he showed up in his work clothes, I don't see why you guys got mad at me!"

"Because you're half naked!"

She playfully sneered to herself before she turned back to him. "Come on, you haven't missed out on much, just half of the first case of beer."

"Let me guess, you drank it yourself." he replied as he stepped in after her, slipping off his jacket along the way.

"I bring it, I drink it." she called back to him. "You didn't bring Cirucci with you? I was kind of looking forward to seeing her again."

Yeah that would've just made matters worse.

He paused long enough to hang the discarded jacket on the nearby coat rack before he moved to follow her down the opening corridor. "She had another matter to take care of." he answered."I think she might've made some plans herself for the evening as well, so I didn't want to disturb her."

"Well, that sucks." Tatsuki spoke with a slight shrug before she glanced back to him over one shoulder. "You're going to have to start bringing her around eventually- that mark on your neck says you guys are getting pretty serious."

Goddamnit Cirucci.

He forced out a nervous chuckle and briefly moved to cover the mark she was talking about with his hand. "That's none of your concern, Tatsuki."

"Oh come on- do you think it's too soon to ask if I can be a bridesmaid?"

"I think you'd be more suiting to be a groomsmen." he replied under his breath before he turned his attention to the red patches of skin that disappeared beneath her sports bra. It took him a moment to realize what they were and chuckled briefly to himself at the realization. "I may have a mark on my neck but at least I don't have scratches down my back."

"Hey, hey, I work at a dojo and these are from the mats." Tatsuki quickly defended as she eventually lead him towards the kitchen where the others would be.

"I've worked in a hospital for several years now, I know what mat cuts look like." Ishida reminded.

She shot him a sharp glare the next time she looked back to him before she switch her attention. "Looks like everyone's here finally, let's get this party started."

"Not that it was really on hold." Ichigo remarked from behind the counter island in the middle of the kitchen. "We've been entertaining ourselves with bouncing bottle caps off of Tatsuki's abs though, so you missed out on some quality entertainment there."

"Uh, that's quite alright." he started. "I've seen enough bar accidents come through the emergency room that any time I see a bar game going on, I kind of cringe."

"That bad?" Tatsuki questioned.

"Ever seen someone without eyelids and with a bottle cap stuck in-"

"Forget I asked."


	57. Chapter 57

Cirucci sighed as she left the hospital almost a full hour after he had departed, mostly just bullshitting around to waste time until she left; she didn't want it to seem suspicious if they left at the same time. And she didn't mean suspicious to those at the hospital, they already knew about their relationship at this point; it was more about suspicion to those outside of the hospital. She didn't want to admit it, but as of lately it just felt like someone was watching them. The hardest part about it was that she didn't know if they were watching him or her.

But as she walked across the parking lot, that feeling was absent for once.

She guessed he was the one being watched then.

Her fingers fumbled in her jacket pocket for a moment before she withdrew her cellphone. While he was off taking care of his own plans, she realized she had forgotten to make some for herself. She knew a few of them were over at the house and she was not in the mood to deal with them right now. Dialing in a number while she tried to wrestle her car keys out of her jacket next, she balanced the device against her shoulder as she fumbled to unlock her car.

"My body is ready and yours for the taking."

"I really hope you have caller ID and you don't just use that line for whenever." Cirucci spoke as she finally wrestled the door open.

A heavy chuckle answered her on the other side. "I'll have to admit, it's made for some awkward conversations with the photographers, but they're kind of used to it." Dordoni replied. "Now then, what is it that I can help you with? You want to come over and take pictures in my bed?"

"You're a classic, Dordoni, you really are." she chuckled. "I need someone to entertain me for a few hours while the boyfriend's off with his friends."

"Well you know my door is always open… plus you know where I keep the spare key."

"You're damn right I do." Cirucci replied. "I gotta head back to the house and change out of these clothes, but I'll be there within the hour. Be sure to be dressed when you answer the door- and I don't mean dressed in that little outfit you surprised me with last time."

"You are breaking my heart, Cirucci."

She shook her head and closed her phone before she tossed it into the passenger seat. It was a silent ride back to her own place, hell she didn't even listen to the radio, not that there was much on there she liked anyways. Then again, she didn't really know why she kept her stuff over at this house either… it wasn't like she was there every day anymore. She should really consider moving in with the Quincy at this point; she tended to be over at his place all the time anyways, so it wouldn't really be all that different. He had once remarked that his house was too big anyways, that he probably should have just settled with getting an apartment instead. He just felt that buying a house would seem like a greater accomplishment- at least it was something he could show off.

He'd probably pass out at just the thought of them living together though.

Still, it was something to consider. She would see how his evening went and if he came home in a decent mood, she could throw hints out at him.

Pulling up into the ever distant driveway, she noted a few cars but not as many as she had assumed would be there. She just needed to get in and get out, that was it. Smoothing out her dress, she made her way up the front path and pushed her way through the door. She was barely a few steps inside before a strange scent in the air filled her with a sense of nausea almost immediately.

"Fucking hell, what the fuck did you burn?" she called as she moved one hand to cover her mouth, partly wondering if she should just go back out the door for some fresh air.

Nell stepped out from the kitchen at the question and gave her a semi-puzzled look before she slowly lifted the ceramic mug in her hand. "We just made coffee… it's a fresh pot."

She continued to cringe at the scent before she made her way towards the staircase nearby. "Somehow, I highly doubt that. Are you sure Szayel's not boiling another skull in there?"

"I only did that once and you weren't supposed to walk in on that." the man called back at her from somewhere out of sight.

"How the hell was I supposed to know what you were doing?" she scoffed before she hurried upstairs, hoping the disgusting scent hadn't infiltrated her room. Luckily for her, it hadn't and she quickly took refuge behind the closed door. Giving out a sigh a relief, she started to work herself out of her work clothes and tossed them aside into the nearby hamper before she grabbed a second outfit. If she was just going to be at Dordoni's then there was no need to get all pretty. A simple pair of jeans and a loose-fitting shirt was all she needed.

Slipping into a different set of heels, she took one last breath before she headed out and made a mad dash for the front door; hoping to avoid any more of those headache-inducing fumes. She nearly collided headfirst into Harribel at the door and barely managed to keep from knocking the woman back outside.

"What's the rush?" Harribel questioned before she felt the purple-haired woman simply push herself aside and step outside.

"Ugh, good luck lasting in there, it smells like a war zone." Cirucci scoffed with a shake of her head. "What are you guys doing over anyways?"

"Nothing for now, mostly just wasting time." she answered as she moved to cross her arms. "Where are you off to?"

See, she knew if she came back, it would just be a spill of twenty questions.

She gave a shake of her head and moved to brush her hand across her shirt. "Just heading over to Dordoni's for a few hours. We'll probably crack open a bottle of wine, watch dirty movies and play strip poker, you know, the usual."

The cinnamon-toned woman chuckled briefly before she gave a short shrug. "Sounds eventful. I'll see if I can't convince the others to do the same."

"I don't need that kind of imagery."

* * *

"- so, long story short, I'm not allowed back there anymore."

"You know, before I left, you were a star student, citizen of the year kind of person." Ichigo chuckled as he leaned back against the couch and sipped at the drink in hand. "And now… I don't even know what happened to you."

From the couch across from him, Tatsuki laughed and gave a heavy shrug. A loose-fitting, white shirt had been tossed on mid discussion after a vote from around the table had her on the losing end. "It's been years since then, people change- but the dude insulted me and I wasn't going to let him walk away."

"So you tried to break his legs? How is that any better?" Orihime questioned as she seated herself to Ichigo's left and sat directly across the table from the darker-haired woman.

"I didn't say I was aiming for better, I just said I wasn't going to let him walk away." the dark-haired woman answered before she downed the rest of the bottle in hand. She gave a brief shake of her head and ran her fingers through her hair before she leaned forward. "Alright, so let's cut the shit and get to the bone here… what's the real reason you guys called for this get together? And don't try to bullshit me, you've had plenty of times to do this kind of thing before and you didn't, but suddenly you throw this one out on us."

Her question seemed to put the other two in an awkward place before they simply waved the matter off.

"There's no getting something past you, is there?" Ichigo questioned as he set his drink aside before he moved to the bag he had set by the couch beforehand. "I know we briefly talked about this before, but… uh well, we do have another Hollow problem on our hands."

Shit.

Tatsuki narrowed her eyes and pushed herself back slightly, passing glances to Chad who sat at her right before she looked to him, who was seated at her left for a brief moment; eventually, she turned back to the orange-haired man. "Hollows? I thought you guys got rid of those things?"

"There's no real way to get rid of them completely." Ichigo explained, shuffling through the same bag. "Not unless you tried to destroy their entire dimension, which is basically impossible; there's always going to be some kind of soul that evolves into a Hollow."

"There hasn't been any Hollows out recently though." Chad remarked.

"Exactly but… these aren't just normal Hollows we're dealing with apparently." Ichigo continued before he seemed to reconsider what he had just said. "Well, they're not really Hollows either… it's a complicated matter."

He felt like he was at least a dozen steps ahead of everyone else and had to force himself to hold back the information to keep from being jumped. The drink in his hand was suddenly tasteless and warm as he set it aside on the table between the two couches. "You want to tell me when all this is supposed to make sense?" Ishida questioned. "You say it's a Hollow problem but then backpedal on the issue."

"Believe me, it gets more complicated." Ichigo warned- as if he didn't already know- before he pulled a folder from the bag, which he tossed aside afterwards. "Alright, long story short, Soul Society has apparently been getting some strange readings from this world. They received a fairly large reading a couple of years ago but when they investigated it, nothing came from it so they pushed it aside. But for the past two years, when they sent investigation teams to check the places out… some of them didn't come back. Their bodies were found but they didn't know what happened. Some of them showed signs of a hollow attack, but Division Twelve discovered that some of them showed signs of being struck by someone with a higher energy reading. With the latest team though, someone actually survived and managed to escape back to the Society before they could be finished off. And he reported, with confidence, that he did in fact witness what he described as a small group of Arrancars."

Silence filled the room afterwards.

Shock for the others and an awkward silence for him.

"Arrancars?" Chad repeated.

"And not just any regular Arrancars... they're Arrancars we're all familiar with."

Smaller pocket of silence.

"... That's not possible." Chad continued. "We got rid of them years ago."

"I know, it sounds crazy, but this is the first piece of solid evidence that the Society has. They don't know how their souls could have gotten to this world but… somehow they did." Ichigo answered with a tired sigh. "And apparently they've retained enough energy to be able to take down a small number of Shinigamis, so they are considered a threat. The Society doesn't want to take any risks with the matter and they intend to reclaim the souls by any necessary means."

"You mean by killing them?" Ishida questioned, trying to sound as semi-casual as he could about it.

The orange-haired man glanced to him and for a moment, he feared his cover had been blown, but the man simply nodded. "Unfortunately so. I know we fought them years before and… it's not going to be fun to take them down again. It may be easier though."

"Okay, whoa, can we slow down here and let some of us catch up?" Tatsuki interrupted. "What the hell are you guys talking about?"

As though to answer her question, Ichigo rifled through the folder in his hand before he finally managed to withdraw a picture. "Does this face look familiar?" he questioned, as he held the picture towards her.

She frowned slightly before she slowly moved forward to take the paper. She gave it a decent look over, which only seemed to deepen her frown. "… Vaguely." Tatsuki replied before she tossed the picture onto the table between them. "That's the guy that tried to kill me awhile back, right?"

Ichigo nodded in response. "Yeah. His name was Yammy and he was the tenth Espada- although it was later revealed he was Espada Zero, but… it's just easier to keep the number system as it is."

"Espada?"

"They were the top ten strongest Arrancars under Aizen's reign." he explained briefly. "They're the ones we believe came back into this world."

"And not just them." Orihime added as she moved to brush aside a loose strand of hair. "Yesterday when I was getting my arm fixed, I ran into one of the Arrancars myself. At first, I thought it was just my imagination but… I couldn't forget a face like that. So it's not just Espadas we have to worry about, any number of them could've came back."

Again, a pause of silence.

It felt like his head was going to explode from their given information and the information he already knew. Even though he had already braced himself for this whole matter, it still felt like it was a larger issue than he had prepared himself for.

"So what do we do?" Chad questioned finally.

"Division Twelve has assembled records of the different Arrancars that were engaged and the deceased ones they managed to research." Ichigo explained as he finally pulled out the rest of the contents in the folder before he tossed them out onto the table between them. "These are the portraits they managed to put together of those they suspect to be back."

He felt an immediate sense of dread crush his chest at the words and forced himself to look at the scattered pictures. It didn't take long for his eyes to be drawn to certain faces.

Harribel.

Neliel.

Szayel.

Even Menoly.

While Tatsuki, Chad and Orhime moved to shift through the pictures, he couldn't bring himself to move towards them; preferring to keep his distance in some hope that it could keep this whole situation at bay for the time being. But it was only getting worse with every passing minute.

"Something wrong, Ishida?"

He snapped out of his brief concentration at the question and glanced up slightly to the orange-haired man across from him. In a quick hope to break his previous thoughts, he gave a shake of his head. "No, just… you know, it's kind of hard to look at something you thought you left behind you." he forced himself to lean forward and pick up one of the photos he kept going back to. "Renji and I went against this one and he was able to crush my stomach without even touching me. It's a memory you can't exactly get rid of. Not to mention the ordeal he put Lieutenant Nemu through, I still have nightmares over that."

"Yeah… you know, Renji said the same thing." Ichigo remarked. "He kind of got this pale look and walked off."

That part was true, he still couldn't get over that memory. It still sent shudders down his spine.

Tatsuki leaned back and gave a brief sigh. "So… what exactly did these Espadas do?"

"Everything you could possibly think of." Ichigo answered. "They're the strongest form of Hollows; they work their way up by killing each other and strengthening themselves in order to survive. So, if a species can easily kill the person standing next to them without hesitation, just imagine what they could do to an opponent and… kind of triple that reaction. They caused massive damage to this world, the fake world that was created and succeeded in killing countless Shinigamis. Everyone here has had experience with them, we've all got our stories to share."

She seemed to take a minute to let the information settle before she pinched the space between her eyes. A quick sigh escaped her before she pushed herself to her feet. "You know, this is sounding like it's going to be a bigger issue than I thought and… I've got another case of beer in my car that I think we're all going to need."

"Hate to say it, but I think I agree with you." Ishida remarked as he briefly readjusted his glasses.

"Great, then you can come help me." she replied as she playfully slapped her hand against his shoulder. "I need some muscle to get it out of my car anyways."

"I think you've got enough muscles for the both of us, but I'll play the part of a gentleman." he spoke as he pushed himself to his feet and started to follow after her. A small bit of fresh air would help him anyways.

"Why not take Chad with you if you needed muscle?" Ichigo asked.

"Because if she took Chad with her, neither of them would come back." Ishida answered, barely avoiding the backwards swing Tatsuki threw at him.

Leaving the other three behind them, he followed her back through the house and out the door towards the cars. She had always prided herself for the sleek ride she earned through years of saving- although after a few promotions, she managed to buy herself a motorcycle only a short year later; he was surprised she didn't ride that one down instead.

This night was going to be longer than he expected…

He didn't even feel Tatsuki grab him by the shirt and only realized she had done so when she slammed him against the passenger door. The act caught him off-guard and left him partially breathless as the force behind the blow was enough to knock the air out of his lungs. He was almost certain his back was going to be bruised from the motion.

"Everyone's got a story to tell, is that right?" she questioned; her face just mere inches from his own. "So tell me, are you going to tell me one or do I have to beat it out of you?"

The sudden aggression in the woman broke all the molds of her character and he wasn't sure how the hell to react to it. He was still trying to catch his breath, let alone answer something for her. But… judging from her tense features, she meant business and he fully believed she would beat an answer out of him. The only problem was that he didn't know what the hell she was talking about. "What do you mean? What do you want?"

Her grip tightened for a moment before she released him and stepped back, turning away for a moment as if she needed to recompose herself. He watched as she moved one hand to run down the front of her face before she turned back to him- looking a little less tense this time. She moved to slip her hand down the front of the shirt she had slipped on before she showed him the picture she had stolen from the table.

"This. Explain this."

Eyes slowly pulled away from hers and moved to the picture in her hand.

The sight of it made his heart sink and turned the blood in his veins cold.

Purple hair. Purple lips… Those purple teardrops underneath her eyes.

"Cirucci."


	58. Chapter 58

"That's right, Cirucci." Tatsuki nodded. "Now tell me why the hell her picture is on that goddamn table in there. You tell me why the hell she's been placed in this… Hollow, Arrancar, Espada, _whatever_ group they're talking about."

He was still paralyzed from seeing her picture alone, he barely even heard the questions she was asking. How the hell did they get a picture of her? A sketched one but… how? He was the only one who fought her, there was no possible way for them to know.

"_Division Twelve has assembled records of the different Arrancars that were engaged and the deceased ones they managed to research." _

"_- Deceased ones they managed to research."_

Shit.

Division Twelve probably went through the remains of Los Noches and gathered whatever bodies they could find. He didn't even want to imagine what they did… what kind of experiments they might've ran on the bodies.

The harsh contact of her fist against his chest helped to break him from those thoughts though, but hindered his breathing just slightly.

"The answer's kind of obvious, isn't it?" Ishida replied as he pushed her arm aside before he touched at the newly sore area. He had seen Tatsuki get pissed off before but it had never been aimed at him... it was kind of frightening if he had to be honest. But her questioning forced him back into this new, cold reality. "She's… she's one of them, alright?"

"And you knew?"

This was certainly one part of the evening he wasn't expecting to deal with.

A harsh sigh escaped him before he moved to push up on his glasses again. "Yeah, I knew. Don't think it didn't catch me off-guard either, don't think I was perfectly okay with this set up in the beginning. You didn't even experience a fraction of what we did, how do you think I felt when I saw her that first time? I thought I had gone mad, I thought I was seeing things, but… I wasn't. She was a monster to deal with before and she was when I met her again." he started, perhaps answering a bit sharper than he intended before he paused slightly and leaned back against the vehicle. "I can't believe they have her profile… I thought she was safe."

He couldn't believe the weakness in his own voice with the words, but it was barely half of the dread that continued to fill his chest.

Despite her earlier, outraged front, the words seemed to convince her to calm down a bit more and he watched as she quickly dropped her stiff expression; catering to a softer, more reasoning look.

"... Who is she?"

Hands moved to cup his face for a moment before he brushed his hair out of his sight. "Cirucci Thunderwitch. She was the hundred-fifth Arrancar, but was considered a Privaron Espada. She was a former Espada who gained an Arrancar status naturally, without assistance from outside means; but when the new age of Espadas proved to be stronger, she was removed from her place. But she was still stronger than a majority of the other Arrancars, so she and a few others were given their own separate titles." he wasn't even sure if the information he was giving was correct or not; it had been so long and he tried to force himself to forget about those years.

"Did you face her before?" Tatsuki questioned as she slowly moved to lean against the open space next to him- crossing her arms over her chest. "Is that how you knew her?"

It took him a moment before he nodded. "Yeah. She and I fought before… she broke my shoulder out of place and really messed up my back-"

"Whoa, hang on." she interrupted. "Are you saying all those scars on your back came from her?"

"Yeah." Ishida nodded briefly. "She made sure every hit was accurate and made sure it landed every time. It was not an easy battle and she wore me down to blood and bone by the end of it, but…" again he paused before he dropped his eyes to the ground. "I did lead to her eventual death. I didn't know though, when I left that room she was still alive and then… this."

Tatsuki didn't respond immediately and seemed to look around at the darkening setting around them for means of a temporary distraction. Eventually fingers moved to pinch the space between her eyes once more. "So… what they're talking about in there…"

"The Society wants to kill them all over again."

She seemed to wince at the words. "So… then that would mean…" she didn't even finish her own sentence and glanced elsewhere for a second time. "Do you know about the others? You didn't react as strongly to the pictures as everyone else did."

Shit, he was hoping no one had noticed.

"Look, I… I just don't think it's best to be discussing this right now." Ishida replied. "We're not exactly in the best place to do so and we're not exactly in privacy either."

"Yes or no." she simplified.

"… Yes." he quickly answered. "If I gave up one, they would find all of them and I… I can't risk that. I'm sorry."

She gave a brief shake of her head before she moved to rest her hand on his arm. "There's no need to apologize, but… when this whole night is over with, we will be finding a spot of privacy and you will be explaining everything you know."

"Hey, what's taking you two so long out there?!"

The call from the doorway caught them both off-guard and they fumbled briefly for an answer, shooting glances towards one another for a quick response.

"I uh, kind of locked my keys in my car!" Tatsuki called back. "Don't worry about it, we've almost got one of the doors knocked open; we'll be in there in a few minutes!"

"Way to go Tatsuki!"

"I will have your neck, Kurosaki!" she shouted back to him, waiting for the sound of the door being closed before she looked back to him. "Come on, let's get this case and get back inside before they start asking more questions. Is there anything else I should know before we go back in there?"

There was a lot more to tell but he wasn't even sure if he could tell her that. "Just… don't say anything about this and act like you know nothing about what we just discussed." Ishida replied as he briefly followed her around the car to where she was starting to unlock the trunk.

Lifting the trunk door, she stuffed her keys back into her pockets before she moved to lift up the unopened box in the back, which she handed to him afterwards. "Well, they won't know anything of what we discussed unless they get this picture." Tatsuki reminded as flashed the photo once more before she moved to tear it into pieces, eventually throwing the scattered remains into the trunk. "And as far as I'm concerned, they won't even notice it's missing."

He felt relieved at the action, although he was certain it was going to come back and bite him in the ass later. "… Thanks. I just want you to know though that… I don't think it's in your best interest to get fully involved in this matter. I don't want the Society coming after you if it finds out you have information."

"Don't worry about me. If anyone tries to come after me, I'll just break their legs." she chuckled before she slammed the trunk door closed. "Then they can crawl after me and admire the sight if they want."

"I'm not going to comment on that. Let's just head back in."

She walked ahead of him and pushed the front door open as they reluctantly joined the others. He was almost certain she would have a better chance at hiding her face than he would; she was a better actor and was quick on her feet in terms of making up excuses.

As far as they could tell though, nothing had changed when they walked back into the living room. Well, everyone seemed to be staring at one of the pictures in confusion and he could only assume the worse from it.

"Do I want to know?" Tatsuki questioned as she climbed back into her seat, seemingly taking her time as she had to step around Chad.

"This." Orihime replied as she handed her the picture they had been mulling over. "It's another one of the Arrancars but… something about his face is really familiar."

Ishida set the new case down by the side of the table before he moved back to his previous seat, noting the slightly amused look the dark-haired woman was holding.

"Uh… you guys are kidding right?" Tatsuki asked, turning the picture back around to them. "This guy cannot be one of those Arrancar people you're talking about."

"Why would you say that?" Ichigo replied, narrowing his eyes with the words.

Tatsuki shook her head and fell back against the couch, moving one foot to prop against the edge of the table. She looked at the picture once more before she tossed it back with the others. "Because he's a model. He's been on the cover of at least a dozen magazines so far. He's got the body of a fitness guru; the women at the dojo love him."

"Sounds like you've kept a few of those magazines for yourself." Ichigo remarked.

"None of your business." she retorted lightly as she grabbed her drink from the table and took a quick sip from it. "I just find it odd that if he was one of these former Arrancars… why would he put himself out into the public so openly like that?"

"He probably wasn't expecting the Society to go after him. None of them are, they probably thought they could just sneak in and do whatever they wanted now that they were hidden." Ichigo remarked with a slight shrug. "Division Twelve has him listed under the name of Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio. Kind of a mouthful but they all share strange names." the orange-haired man seemed to take a brief pause before he continued. "I actually fought him before in Los Noches... He actually wasn't that bad of a guy."

"You're still planning on killing him though, aren't you?" Tatsuki questioned.

Her words were enough to draw in a slight confused and questioning look from the others while Ishida felt more of a cringing response to it.

"He's still a threat." Ichigo repeated.

"I know, you said they still had enough power to take down these 'Shinigami' officers, but… something about this whole matter seems off to me." she shrugged briefly, moving to rub the back of her neck with one hand. "Then again, I've had no experiences with these guys. I don't know what they were previously capable of anyways or what they're capable of now. It just seems weird that you're going to go through the energy of tracking down a reincarnated soul just to kill them all over again. How do you know their cycle won't just repeat itself?"

"The biggest issue the Society is trying to solve right now is just getting them out of the human world. After that… I don't know how things will go." Ichigo answered.

"Shouldn't you figure that out first?"

"What's with the sudden interest?"

If she might've panicked under the pressure, she didn't show it. "Look, Ichigo, you know me. You know how I need to know a lot of details before I get into something. I mean, sometimes I do just jump head first into things but this… this sounds like some pretty serious business. You guys are going out on a hunt essentially and you're going to kill these people. I just need to know all the details there are before I get into something like this. I don't know how you'd react but if I knew someone's death was going to rest in my hands… I want to know everything. You say these are the worst people you've ever met but then remark that this one wasn't 'that bad of a guy.' Choose a side."

There was silence afterwards once more.

Chad cleared his throat shortly after before he briefly shook the picture he had been holding in his hand. "This one actually saved my life believe it or not. He let me escape when another Espada interrupted our battle and tried to kill the both of us. I can't remember his name now but... this is the kind of face you can't forget."

"I don't know where you guys found those Espadas because the ones I ran into kicked my ass without hesitation." Ishida remarked as he pushed his fingers through his hair. "One of them ruptured my stomach and the one before it split my back open in so many places I had to go to a few sessions of physical therapy to get over them."

"I remember that." Chad replied. "I had to drive you to a few of them. They didn't really look like they were helping."

"I'm almost certain that therapist was trying to kill me first and help me second."

"Look, the biggest thing the Society wants right now is for us to look for these faces, see if we can't get a good estimate on how many of them are here." Ichigo interrupted. "Right now, we have one confirmed identification and two others that the Shinigami officer was somewhat certain he saw. And I highly doubt less than ten of them were able to come back. So, we've been given orders not to engage but just observe for now. Division Twelve's had teams come in monthly to do readings but they've all come back negative so far and they haven't seen a sighting either. Now, the reason for such could be because the Arrancars have figured out their schedule and avoid going out into public at that time or are just able to change their appearances. But since we're here at all times and we've had limited access with most of them, then it'll be easier for us to identify them."

"Just like how we saw that Arrancar in the lobby yesterday." Orihime noted. "I wouldn't doubt that they've been through your clinic dozens of times throughout the years. You probably just never paid attention to them or recognized them."

No, he really hadn't, but with hundreds of patients in a month, it was hard to focus on just one. It was only until after he ran into Cirucci that he really began to notice them. He gave a brief sigh and shook his head. "I wouldn't doubt it but I also wouldn't doubt that they've been watching us just as well. One thing I remember is that they're smart; they're not going to make a mistake easily. They've probably been aware of our presence longer than we've been of theirs. And… with that, I wouldn't be surprised if they've signed everything under a false name."

"Hence why the Society wants us to look into this matter first."

"Well, I can tell you right now, I've never seen any of these people at the dojo before." Tatsuki remarked. "I'll keep an eye out for them but… no promises."

"Same." Ishida agreed.

"Great, because at this point, it's really all we can ask for."


	59. Chapter 59

The conversation persisted for an hour or two before they managed to break away from the seriousness of it and turned to more light-hearted things. It was strange to remember how entertaining it was to laugh with everyone again; to reminisce on things that he had long since put behind him. All while trying to forget the more serious matter at hand- which was really more difficult to do on his part. With a few more beers mixed in, it didn't take long before everyone was parting their farewells.

The night air felt heavy outside and Ishida wondered if he might've looked too eager to leave. There were a few last promises to get together again soon and to keep a look out for anything that might be suspicious before they finally departed. He fumbled with the keys in his jacket pocket and questioned whether or not he should've had that last beer. He couldn't really say he wasn't much of a drinker, but sometimes it felt like he was inclined to drink when he was with others.

It was probably the situation as a whole that was making him feel like this.

He barely made it to his car before he picked up on the movement next to him.

"So where are we going?" Tatsuki questioned as she braced her arm against the driver side door; blocking him from opening it.

He really should have predicted her doing something like this… he wasn't sure why he thought he could just get away. Letting out a deep sigh, he gave a brief shake of his head and leaned one shoulder against the car as well. "I don't know. You tell me."

Her eyes narrowed and he could tell immediately that he said the wrong thing. "Ishida, I'm being serious."

"And I'm being just as serious." he defended. "I just… I don't think it's best for you to get involved. Not to this extent. Right now, I think it'd just be safer if you knew as little about this whole situation as you can. It'll make things easier in the long run."

Tatsuki frowned at the words before she slowly stepped towards him- not looking near as threatening as she had been before. "I think it's a little late for this speech. I'm already involved enough as it is… so it doesn't matter at this point. You might be looking out for my well being but I can look out for myself believe it or not. Besides…" she paused briefly and seemed to glance around them as though suddenly suspicious someone else might be listening. "I consider Cirucci to be a friend, okay? If something might happen to her, the least I could do is try to help her- but I can't if you don't tell me everything."

… Sometimes he hated how easily he could be swayed by passive talk. It took him a few minutes before he gave in and finally nodded. "Okay, just follow me back to my place and I'll… see what I can tell you."

"Good." Tatsuki replied with a short grin of victory before she straightened up and turned to leave. "Hey Chad, change of plans! We're gonna hit it up with Ishida before we go back to my place."

"Wait- what?" Ishida started.

"Hey, look, what we do in our time is our own private business." she retorted with a laugh.

He watched as she walked off without another word while he was left to stand there. Sighing, he pressed his head against the car and felt himself starting to regret this whole decision to tell her everything. Then again, she did rip up that picture- but again, she didn't need to be completely involved in this whole matter. It left so many things opened, so many loose ends that could make things go terribly wrong. And if something went wrong… this was all going to come back on him; it was all going to be his fault.

Now he was beginning to regret ever asking Cirucci all those questions; he should've just been happy with his own ignorance.

"Do I even want to know what Tatsuki's talking about?"

Glancing up briefly at the question, Ishida only shook his head at the tanned-skin man. "Chad… it's a long story that no one needs to be involved in right now, but… she's going to beat it out of me one way or another." he replied, repositioning his glasses again.

The man didn't walk off like he thought he would and only stood there until he straightened himself back up.

"It has something to do with the Arrancar discussion doesn't it?" Chad questioned as he moved to cross his arms. "You guys looked like you had something to hide with it."

For the love of- did everyone notice?!

"Just… follow me back to my place." Ishida replied with a sense of defeat. He watched as the man nodded before he started back towards his own vehicle. "And sorry for interrupting whatever you two had planned for your evening."

Judging by the way the man didn't say anything and only quickened his pace… he probably didn't want to know anyways.

Finally pulling the door open, he got into his car and stayed there to recollect his thoughts before he started it up. And then… another thought crossed his mind.

Fumbling for the phone in his jacket, he pulled it out, hesitated, before he finally dialed in her number. He didn't know what he was going to do, what he was going to say… He was probably going to make another terrible decision.

"Your night already over? Mine's barely started." Cirucci cooed.

If only. "I wish it was that easy to say." Ishida replied with a brief chuckle. "Where are you at?"

"Hanging out with Dordoni for now." she answered. "We just started a new drinking game, you caught us at the right time. You want to come join?"

Oh God… why did she offer?

But, he had to face it, it was the opening he was looking for.

"… Yeah, sure, my evening was pretty boring; I could go for some entertainment." Ishida remarked.

"Great, Gantenbainne just showed up and he could use a partner."

What the hell was he doing?

"Alright. I'll see you there." he nodded, pausing slightly before he continued "… Actually, I don't know his address."

"I'll text it to you; it's not difficult to find."

Here goes nothing.

Tossing his phone into the passenger seat, he forced himself to take a deep breath and finally put the vehicle into drive- probably to the confusion of Tatsuki and Chad. Driving off, he tried to get his thoughts together and figure out the situation he was putting himself in to. He probably was going to get someone killed just because… because he felt the need to make a point? What the hell was he thinking?

But he had to face it... this whole situation was a game of risk and each time his turn came around, he was just doubling his chances.

She was at least right in the remark that the place wasn't hard to find.

Still… he drove around the neighborhood a few times just to get his nerve back before he pulled onto the side of the street. He could already hear the questions as he got back out of his car and watched as the other two pulled up behind him. But he didn't know what else to do, this seemed to be the only way he could think of.

"Unless you moved suddenly, I don't remember this being your place." Tatsuki called from her car as she pushed her door open.

"It's not and to be honest, I don't know why I'm here." Ishida replied with a brief shrug. "Just… follow me and hope this doesn't get us killed in some way."

She seemed to take the words into consideration before she moved to follow after him. "That's not comforting."

"Welcome to my life."

Starting up towards the front walk, he tried to keep himself calm as he ran the scenario through his head before realizing that it was pointless to do; there was no telling what was going to happen. All he could hope for was the best- and even that was too far away from the worst. Approaching the front door, he held his breath before he brought himself to knock.

"Save my shot!" was all that could be heard from the inside, followed by running footsteps.

He watched as the door was thrown open and briefly smiled at the sight of the purple-haired woman standing on the other side- before he noticed her lack of a shirt; revealing a lacy ensemble.

"Is this what you do when I'm not around?" Ishida remarked.

"No, I do more inappropriate things, but you probably don't want to hear them." Cirucci replied, without missing a beat.

"Why does she get to hang around topless, but when I do it, people complain?" Tatsuki interrupted.

Cirucci chuckled lightly and moved to cross her arms. "It's all about the people you hang out with. My friends have no morals and we're all attractive, so why not."

"Ah, that's what we're missing; attractive people." Tatsuki nodded before she dug her elbow into Ishida's side. "Too bad I'm the best looking one in this group, it makes it difficult to find someone who can fit in with me."

Two minutes in and he was already done with this.

Shaking his head, Ishida glanced back to Chad, who only seemed to share his look of defeat. "Right, uh, hope you don't mind the extra company. We left at the same time and figured the night was still young."

"Hey, no problem." Cirucci grinned as she pushed the door open wider "We could use another team anyways; winner plays final round."

Drawing in a deep breath, he stepped into the house after her and could already feel the oncoming tension. As long as he kept his cool though… well, at least he'd be okay.

"Dordoni, we've got some extra guests, you wanna pour another round?"

There it was.

He watched as Tatsuki paused briefly next to him at the name; her eyes narrowing slightly in question before she looked back to Chad- as though to confirm what she had heard.

"Well, we've got plenty to go around." the man called back.

Cirucci chuckled as she walked into the kitchen and watched the dark-haired man grab a few more glasses from the cabinet above before he set them down on the counter. "The husband's here if you finally want to get a glimpse of him."

"We'll see how well he can play and judge him from there." Dordoni replied as he filled one of the glasses up with a caramel-colored liquid before he slid it down towards her. "You tell him that one's for the next round."

"He's a doctor, not one of us; I don't think he can risk getting liver failure." Cirucci remarked.

"If he's a husband, then technically he's one of us." Dordoni spoke as he finished pouring out the rest of the drinks before he took the glasses. "Well, let's not keep the guests waiting; we've got a game to keep to."

She gave a brief roll of her eyes and sipped at the drink in hand. "Yeah well, until Gantenbainne gets off his phone in the back, we're still stuck. Although, he didn't really join in yet, so we could face off with new teams. Me and the husband versus you and one of the others; I bet Tatsuki will play with you."

"You two are going down." Dordoni promised before he lifted the glasses and started back out into the main room to greet whoever had showed up. "Sorry for the mess, Cirucci likes to create one wherever she goes."

Ishida forced a chuckle at the remark, trying to ignore the drain of color from Tatsuki's face and the sudden stillness from Chad. "Yeah, she's made my life pretty hectic up until now and I can only imagine it's going to get worse-" he started before he felt the side of Tatsuki's fist make contact with the space between his shoulders. "… Like now."

"Is that who I think it is?" Tatsuki questioned as she stepped forward. "Dordoni Alessandro… uh… I forgot what the rest of it was…"

"Del Socaccio" he finished. "You've seen my magazine covers."

"I… may have saved a few." she remarked with a bit of a nervous laugh.

"Don't feed his ego." Cirucci chuckled. "He'll get used to the attention- as if he doesn't get enough already."

"No, no, don't listen to her." Dordoni assured.

"Oh please, I read those letters that women send to you." Cirucci snorted. "How many of them want to bear your offspring again?"

"Twenty-seven, but that doesn't matter."

Ishida watched as the two laughed with one another while behind him, he was sure Tatsuki and Chad wanted to get a hellva lot more answers than he was giving. Seeing as he hadn't explained anything yet... they probably wanted to beat the answers out of him instead. And something about a door opening somewhere out of sight told him that he was only going to drag them in deeper.

"Sorry about that, just another late night business call." a deeper voice called from elsewhere, possibly from the back portion of the kitchen.

"Well, we were about to start a game without you." Cirucci remarked. "You should be glad you showed up when you did; hey, if you wanna pull up with Dordoni, you guys can face off with me and the husband."

"That does not sound like a safe option, but we'll roll with it." the man replied as he finally stepped into view. "When did your man show up-"

Cirucci chuckled slightly at his caught expression and the way he stopped in mid question. "A few minutes ago. He's a little nerdier than expected, but I think it's a nice touch."

He didn't need to feel the tension in the air to know what was about to go on.

The other man who had just stepped in was still loosely dressed in a business suit; the darker jacket was the missing piece of the ensemble, which left just a white dress shirt and half-loosened tie. A pair of shades were loosely balanced on the bridge of his nose, threatening to topple off.

He had bright orange hair that had been styled into a smaller afro and matching sideburns. The small beard on his chin was black though, which seemed odd but not worth questioning.

At best... this man was the missing piece he had been looking for.

So… here went nothing.

"Believe it or not, Cirucci, he's not looking at me." Ishida remarked as he briefly readjusted his glasses once more; using the motion to distract himself momentarily. "… I think it's about time we all sat down and I talk everyone through what's going on right now."

Almost immediately, the easy going expression she had been wearing was gone and replaced with a far sterner, more fitting look. Her purple lips tightened and pressed downward slightly. "What are you talking about?"

"We have history, Cirucci; we both know that." Ishida started, feeling the words almost coming too easily to him now. "And unfortunately, although I suppose that depends on how you look at it, we're not the only ones. Three Privarons, three battles; we were one of those battles… and Chad and Gantenbainne were another."

And click for the situation finally falling together.

Maybe it wasn't as important as he had set it up to be... but it helped pushed things forward. If Chad and Tatsuki were going to get involved in this matter, on his side, then he needed to start playing the right cards. He needed someone else to experience that same feeling he had when he ran into Cirucci that first time.

All of that heart-stopping fear and panic.

What they had been discussing just hours ago was real and it was standing right here, right in front of them.

It seemed to take a moment before she pressed her lips out. "Did you set this up?"

"No, it kind of came to me halfway here." Ishida replied. "If this was a whole set up, I wouldn't have planned myself to be here and I would've tried to ease the whole thing together, but… I didn't. A lot of things have gone wrong tonight, why not add one more?"

There was another stilling sense of silence. He had a feeling not everyone was feeling the same kind of tension either. At least he had preparation for this moment, so on his part, it was more tension for what everyone else's reactions would be. For Chad... it was looking into a familiar, dead face all over again; it was reliving those moments again and again in the time span of a few seconds- trying to figure out what to say or do. If anything, Tatsuki might've had it easiest or maybe even the hardest. She had only seen the pictures of these people and yet, now she could connect some of those portraits to actual faces.

"… I have a feeling we'll need something stronger." Dordoni remarked, choosing to break the silence himself now as though he had quickly gotten tired of this silent game they were playing.

"So it is true then." Tatsuki started as she took another brief step forward. "You are one of those Arrancars."

"… We'll definitely need something stronger."


	60. Chapter 60

**A/N: OhGodwhy. There's been a long pause, I'm sorry, a lot of things happened. I finished my last few classes, graduated college, moved out of state, my computer is dying and the list goes on. I'm just really struggling with this story and it's pathetic on my half. I'm honestly still surprised people have hung around this long, but thank you to those who have; I'm sorry that you have to deal with the inconsistencies and lack of updates. **

The room was absolutely stilled as everyone seemed to sit in tension. He had just finished explaining the situation as best he could- with the rare interruption from Tatsuki- and now… it was just the waiting game. It was just him waiting to see what they would say. For the most part, from what he could see, Cirucci didn't appear all that surprised maybe… it was like she had been expecting this kind of news for awhile now. She just sipped somewhat numbly at the drink in hand. Dordoni had refilled his drink multiple times, as though hoping the alcohol could numb the news of the situation. Gantenbainne… showed no reaction whatsoever, as though he continued to be distracted by something else.

Tatsuki still looked to be in shock from the overall situation. Whether that was the fact that she was face to face with a set of Arrancars herself, or the fact that she was coming to terms with one of her friends being an Arrancar… it could've been a list of things. Maybe it was the fact that she was face to face with Dordoni, who she had once remarked was a fitness idol to her. It could've been a list of things. Either way, she was holding up better than expected.

And Chad… he wasn't sure. The man could mask his emotions easily and this was one of those times where he did so. He had his thoughts, maybe he was still trying to overcome the initial shock of seeing Gantenbainne once again. He could imagine it was the same emotions he went through when he saw Cirucci that first time all over again.

As for himself, he wasn't sure. This was the exact situation he had been trying to keep himself out of. This was a conflict between three different parties in one room. Cirucci, Dordoni, Gantenbainne and himself counted as one, Tatsuki was another and Chad was the last one. Chad, Tatsuki and himself still had connections to the Shinigamis, although he had cut his where he could. But Tatsuki was still considered just human, so she really shouldn't have been involved in this manner to begin with. Chad still kept his contacts, so there was no telling which way he would swing in this kind of situation… So by all means, he was making a terrible mistake with this.

Shit.

Why couldn't he have thought this through all the way? He guessed since Tatsuki seemed willing to help where she could, he just… assumed Chad would help as well.

Still silence though, that was either good or bad and knowing his luck, it'd probably be bad.

Despite the drinking from before, he still took up on the offer of a stronger concoction. And he had to admit that he really needed it at a time like this. It was bitter, but had a sweet aftertaste to it, ending it off on a good note at least. He had no clue what it had been mixed with but… at this point, he didn't care. At least it helped to take his mind off of things- for now anyways.

"Well…" Dordoni started, cutting the tension where he could as he drew in a deep breath and leaned back in his chair; his hands moving to knit behind his head. "Seems like the jig is finally up."

"Doesn't mean the dance is over though." Cirucci remarked. "Let's face it, we all knew this was going to happen eventually, there's no sense in acting surprised over it." she paused and gave a heavy exhale before she swirled the drink in hand. "It just… happened a little quicker than we thought it would."

"Doesn't change the fact that we never planned on what to do when it did happen." Dordoni replied. "We didn't even get involved in this matter… Maybe we should have."

"We would've just made matters worse." she started. "So… we make plans now."

"We're terrible at planning." he reminded.

Well, this was an interesting conversation.

"Shouldn't we tell the others first?" Dordoni continued.

Cirucci narrowed her eyes slightly at the suggestion before she gave in a defeated sigh and downed the rest of her drink in one motion. She let it burn down her throat for a moment before she shook her head. "Yeah, we probably should. At least then we can all panic and scream at each other. Maybe we can finally fulfill that suicide pact we were always talking about."

Dordoni seemed to frown at her suggestion before he gave a brief shake of his head. "I'm too beautiful for suicide."

It took a moment before Cirucci reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart."

"What is there that we can do?" Tatsuki questioned, finally forcing herself to speak up. "I mean… what exactly are we going up against here?"

"A lot." Chad answered simply enough, before he gave into a heavy sigh himself. "Countless Shinigami officers, thirteen Lieutenants and thirteen Captains. I don't think they'll all get involved but… they'll outnumber us by a good margin."

Tatsuki frowned at the words and pressed her lips tightly together in frustration. "Well, how strong are these Shinigamis?"

"Stronger than me." he offered with a brief shrug.

The black haired woman seemed even more disapproving of the answer before she moved to rest one hand against Chad's back. Eventually, she shifted her attention to the three seated in front of her. "What about you guys? I mean, Ichigo said something about your powers being somewhat returned, so does that mean you'll still have the strength to fight?"

"Are you kidding? I could still kick ass with or without my powers." Cirucci boasted. "Just ask the Quincy."

"I'm not saying anything." Ishida replied.

Dordoni moved to rub his temples with one hand as he leaned forward now. "Our power has been greatly reduced, but we keep it sealed away for our own protection, so… there's really no telling what kind of damages we could still do. I mean, we're without our release forms now so that's one strike against us since they'll still be capable of achieve Shikai and Bankai forms."

"But with our energy sealed, they can easily lose track of us." Gantenbainne finally added in, reminding everyone that he was still present. "Not to mention, we now know this city more than they do and… they won't risk creating a scene; they're not stupid."

"They'll just wait us out." Dordoni reminded.

"So we're dead either way." Gantenbainne shrugged. "Might as well make the most of it."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here." Tatsuki started, briefly clearing her throat. "We still have an upper hand with this… I mean, we know all of their cards so far and they don't know yours. You still have a chance with this- maybe not the best chance, but you can catch them off-guard with it. Give them a good scare at least."

"I've always enjoyed the ambush situations personally." Cirucci added. "But she does bring up a good point… the problem would be trying to figure out when and where exactly they're going to attack. Which in order to figure it out, we'd have to set up a trap with one of us as bait- which would set us up to be the aggressors… which would kind of blow the philosophy we've been standing behind up until now."

"Oh yeah…" Dordoni remarked.

Tatsuki released a frustrated groan before she slumped against the back of the couch. "But if we wait too long and let them strike…"

"There will be causalities." Cirucci finished with her own brief sigh before she leaned back in her chair just the same. She let her head roll onto one shoulder before she looked over to the man who had been silent almost all throughout this conversation. "Quincy."

Ishida shook his head briefly before he set his drink aside, figuring he didn't need to drink anymore for now; it was already late enough and he had work in the morning. "We face difficulties with either decision we make… Right now they're just depending on us to return with evidence, but I don't think they'll wait for all of us to come back with something. Orihime's already confirmed one sighting, they could work solely off that if they're desperate. More than likely, they'll flood the city with officers and the battle will start one way or another." he moved to readjust his glasses for a moment and straightened up briefly "One thing I don't understand is that… Ichigo said Division Twelve had been keeping a consistent eye on this city for months now. If they had the portraits of everyone then, at least once, they should've been able to witness and identify one person. But they didn't. I know Division Twelve more than I want to and they're a very observant bunch; they don't let details escape them so… how were you able to slip by?"

"We're dealing with enough questions right now, do we really need more?" Cirucci remarked before something seemed to dawn on her. "Wait… who would lead these little expeditions or whatever?"

"More than likely, Nemu, or rather Lieutenant Kurotsuchi." he started. "She's got a sharp eye and… doesn't show mercy, so it's not like she would look over something like this. She doesn't get distracted either so…" he cut his own words off as another thought crossed him.

Cirucci narrowed her eyes briefly at his silence and waited for him to continue… only to waste a few seconds doing so. "So what?"

"I… don't think I want to talk about it." Ishida remarked with a brief sigh. "It may or may not have something to do with someone else we know."

"Are you really going to make me decipher that?"

He just waved her off for the time being, telling himself that he'd have to explain it later.

"So, what do we do now?" Tatsuki questioned.

"I don't know, there's so many things that go with this whole ordeal, I don't even know where to begin." Ishida started before he paused briefly once again, this time letting a few more things catch up to him. "Wait, wait… are you honestly thinking about getting involved with this?"

"Well yeah, I kind of have to now." Tatsuki remarked with a brief scuff. "I've been sitting here discussing this whole thing for like an hour now, you can't just kick me out of the club at this point. Look, I may not be able to bring much to the table, but… any little helps at this point. And I think you guys need me more. And I just… I don't know, something about this whole situation just rubs me the wrong way. Why do you feel the need to kill someone twice just because you didn't like them the first time?"

"It's a little more complicated than that." Chad briefly corrected. "But… we're standing with you."

"Why?" Dordoni spoke. "I mean, don't take that the wrong way but… you literally know nothing about us. I mean, a couple of years ago, we would've tried to kill you without hesitation. Well, I mean, these two tried to kill two of you without hesitation, so I guess you do have some experience with the message I'm trying to push here."

"I don't think I have to explain myself." Ishida started. "I got myself caught in this mess, there's no backing out for me."

"Exactly, we're this deep into it, might as well keep going." Tatsuki nodded. "I mean… I know I'm going against pretty much all the friends I've had since ever really, but… this is a matter of ethics I think. It's kind of like reincarnation or something, you know? Could you justify killing someone innocent just because he was a mass murderer in a previous life? You guys haven't done anything other than defend yourselves. You know, I may regret this decision in the future but right now… I'm willing to stick by it. So… there's my two cents on the matter."

"I… well, I think my reasoning might be a bit more complicated." Chad started as he stuck his hands into the pockets of his jacket for the time being. "I don't think I would've been able to make it as far as I did if I didn't gain the full grasp of my powers during our battle. And then you tried to buy me some time when that other Espada showed up."

"I'm pretty certain you would've figured out your power eventually." Gantenbainne remarked.

"You would've killed me in that battle if I hadn't. But you wanted a fair fight and you knew I could be a stronger opponent. You wouldn't let me off easy." Chad replied. "I'm returning the favor. This isn't a fair fight either way you look at it… but at least I can help even the grounds."

Silence.

"Alright… well… that settles it then." Tatsuki announced. "We're part of the team now."

"Yeah uh… you might not want to meet the rest of the team…" Cirucci started. "They hate everyone basically."

"They still hate me." Ishida added. "But at this point… they don't really have a choice."**  
**

"But how could you reject a face like this?" Tatsuki asked as she gestured around her own.

He didn't want to tell her that they would probably want to break it instead… so he decided to keep that piece to himself. "I don't know how Tatsuki, maybe we'll use it as our last defense."

Okay, so... the pieces were slowly coming together. Pieces for what felt like their inevitable failure, but at least it was something. At least... they were united in some kind of sense. Part of knew he would feel guilty if something happened to either Tatsuki or Chad- it was his fault he gradually dragged them down this steep path in the first place. And while he wanted to cling to some doubts that the Society wouldn't do anything to harm them, he knew better than that.

The reality of it wasn't going to be some kind of picture-perfect ending; no one was going to step away from this situation with ease.

Somehow, he knew it was going to bring out the worst in them.

"… Are we still going to play?" Dordoni questioned, cracking yet another wall of silence. "I think I speak for everyone when I say that it's been a long day."

"We're trying to deal with something here and you still want to play a drinking game?" Gantenbainne remarked in partial disbelief.

"Only if I get to serve first." Tatsuki interjected.

"Deal."


	61. Chapter 61

"Well… that was quite an eventful evening."

He tried to ignore the sarcasm in her voice as they walked through the front door; he was just glad to be home… even if he wouldn't be staying long. Work was in a four hours and he was already kicking himself for staying out so late- and drinking so much for that matter. He was almost certain he had drank more in this evening than he had in the entire year. Maybe he shouldn't even bother with sleeping, it would only make him feel worse at this point- which would technically be a challenge to do.

He heard her give out an exaggerated sigh and watched as she seemingly collapsed onto the nearby couch; landing in an almost painfully contorted pose. Sighing, he shook his head at the sight before he moved on into the kitchen. While water was the best option for him right now, he was really leaning towards a cup of coffee. Maybe it could hide the smell of alcohol on his breath.

He barely had the coffee pot back in the machine before Cirucci showed up again.

Her expression pretty much said everything he needed to hear and he watched as she partly slumped against the kitchen counter next to him.

"I just want you to know that the biggest problem I thought I would have to deal with today would be finding a way to bring up the topic of moving in together."

He paused just long enough for the words to settle before he finished setting up the coffee machine and pushed it to start. "I… think I'd rather deal with this matter instead."

She frowned in response before she pushed herself from the counter side. "Look, just… I'm going to go speak with everyone tomorrow. It'll probably be best if you weren't there anyways." her tone carried a bit of edge with it- an edge he knew she had been sharpening the entire way home. With that, she walked off and disappeared into the back hallway.

Part of him wanted to go after her, but he somehow convinced himself that it probably wasn't the smartest move. They both needed their space right now and the alcohol certainly wasn't going to make this situation any easier to deal with…

He didn't want to think about how the rest of the Espadas were going to react though.

He still wasn't sure how to react himself. It just felt like nothing was going to happen from this, but he knew better than to just hope that it would all blow over. The Society had set its sight on this movement, there was no sense in trying to stop them. It just made him question whether or not they could pull this off. There were countless Shinigami officers… while there was only a set number of them. How many would they have to go through? How many would they have to put down before the Society relented?

At least the human world gave them a slight number advantage; the Society wouldn't risk sending countless units into this dimension. At the same time, they wouldn't want to risk any unnecessary structural damages or civilian deaths, which… were possible. Hence why he had been so reluctant to let Tatsuki join- even Chad for that matter.

But now, they didn't really have a choice. Tatsuki had a point when she mentioned that she was already this deeply involved with it anyways. He couldn't just ask her to… look the other way and ignore what was eventually going to happen.

They had managed to push it off this far and yet… he still maintained that feeling that he had messed up somehow; that he had only accelerated the process. But they all knew it was going to happen eventually, at least they got the heads up about it now.

Would it be enough though?

* * *

The sun came up quicker than it should have, but since he decided to risk avoiding sleep it wasn't all that much of a nuisance. It just meant that he had a full day of work before him and he was questioning if any of it was going to be worth it. Not exactly something a doctor might want to say, but... it wouldn't be the first time such thought had passed him by. He guessed in the end, it just meant that he wasn't that great of a doctor. Medically, yes; psychologically, no.

A cold shower helped to bring him back to his senses some and the equally cold coffee on the drive over to the hospital reassured him that his head was still attached to his shoulders. Which meant he could probably bullshit his way through the day. Last he checked, there wasn't anything serious on the schedule, so that helped him greatly since there was still alcohol in his system. At this point though, he didn't even care to think of an excuse; if someone called him out on it, what business was it to them anyways?

He didn't even know if Cirucci was going to show up either.

Part of him hoped that she wouldn't, but the more time she missed out on, the more people were going to get curious and come asking questions to him- and he didn't want that attention. He had enough to deal with right now- stuff that didn't even deal with work, that didn't even really deal with him in a sense. But no, he just had to get himself involved in all of this- he had to make this shit complicated. Why? Just to spare a few people who probably didn't even appreciate his assistance, the same people who had tried to destroy Soul Society just mere years before? Or maybe there was an underlining alternative here, maybe he just wanted to finally severe those ties.

Maybe this was the only way to do so.

And yet, when he pulled up into the parking lot of the hospital and set the car into park… he knew none of that was true.

He was doing this because he fell in love with the enemy.

He was doing all of this willingly because the thought of losing her petrified him. And he couldn't risk losing anyone else- he didn't have anyone else to lose. If that meant having to put himself into the crosshairs to do something reckless and stupid, then so be it.

Maybe this alcohol was just hitting him harder than he thought.

Walking himself into the front lobby, he tried not to be bothered with anyone until he at least got to his office. He was hoping no one would be around to try and jump him on the way there, but… that usually never happened. Not with the people who worked here.

"Ah, Dr. Ishida. I was wondering when you might show up."

The voice stilled him and he momentarily forgot about the key to his office as he tried to figure out who the voice came from; he eventually just turned to look to save himself the trouble. It didn't take him long to locate the older man who was just now coming down the back corridor towards him. With a pressed, dark-striped shirt and matching tie, along with the doctor's coat thrown on, it didn't take him long to figure out who the man was. His slightly graying hair was pulled back into a short tail that hung low against the back of his neck; the style helped to open up the curve of his broad jaw and high cheekbones. Despite the heavy lines from aging that decorated his face, the man still held an aura of life and energy to him.

"Dr. Shinobu." Ishida greeted, eventually just leaving the keys in the door as he moved to take the older man's outstretched hand. It wasn't that he had forgotten about sending the man an open invitation before… it was just that he wasn't expecting him to drop by so soon. The appearance certainly cleared up his head though. "You're here rather early."

"Ah yes, sorry for the intrusion, but… well I finished my appointments sooner than predicted and I remembered your invitation. I thought I would take advantage of it while I had the time." the older man spoke as they shared a firm handshake before he dropped his hand away. "I hope I'm not intruding."

While he would've preferred if people called ahead of time if they wanted a tour, in this case, he didn't bother with it. After all, the man had dropped in at a rather... well rounded time. If things were going to go from bad to worse any time soon, at least he had the comfort of knowing that someone was going to be here in his place. "No, no of course not." Ishida assured. "In fact, it's great timing since I don't have anything on schedule today- as far as I know. I can give you the tour and let you run over whatever you need to know about the place. The only thing we need to figure out is where to start first."

"Well, I already met some of your staff and they seem like very dedicated workers." Dr. Shinobu spoke.

Fuck.

"Only when you put them in fear for their lives." Ishida remarked briefly as he looked past the man in time to catch several of the nurses peeking around from their desks to get an eye on the conversation. "Or in fear for other people's lives."

Shinobu offered a brief chuckle and a nod. "Sounds quite familiar. That's how we keep the interns in line."**  
**

Perhaps it was a good thing that Cirucci wasn't here this morning. He would hate for Dr. Shinobu to run into her by himself- although come to think of it, it'd be even worse if he was present for that interaction.

"Right, well then... let's get started elsewhere. I'll need to ensure this hospital's reputation in the case the employees here may have steered you into the wrong impression."

"Don't worry, they're a lively bunch but certainly no harm to them."

For now.

They started from the front of the hospital and moved towards the back, going through each ward and wing there was with careful descriptions and explanations of their procedures. He rattled off about the equipment they used and the techniques the nurses were trained to use- things he was almost certain the older doctor had no interest in knowing. It helped to fill in the silence though. They stopped and spoke to the few nurses who were running the hallways, stepped into a few patient rooms to get an update and helped to correct a brief mess in the filing system. Nothing all that eventful, but he explained everything he could- he felt he had to after all. If something was going to happen, he needed to make sure to cover all these bases.

That was all he could think about the entire time they toured the facility.

If something happened... if everything suddenly went to Hell overnight...

If he got killed, then he needed to make sure things were left in proper order to be picked up again.

It was almost strange. The entire time this situation had been going through his head, he never really thought about his own mortality in it. He was either always worried about Cirucci or someone else... or maybe he was just a fool and never considered that a Shinigami would kill him. They didn't have a reason not to, after all he was basically the one orchestrating most of what was going on on the Hollow side.

No, now wasn't the time to think about this. Not here at least.

"So tell me, how's your father doing these days?" Shinobu questioned as they stepped out into the back of the hospital for the fresh air.

There wasn't much to the back lot asides from two dumpsters and a couple of faded parking spots. A few ambulances were parked nearby while the paramedics on duty were taking their smoking break under the closest tree. There were a few more discarded cigarettes littering the area around the dumpsters- no doubt from the night shift a few hours before. He would advise them otherwise if he wasn't a part of the group himself.

Ishida chuckled briefly at the remark and distracted himself with straightening the collar of his shirt. "You know better than to ask me that question."

The older man gave a shake of his head. "How long has it been?"

"To be honest, Shinobu, I don't really know. I lost count as soon as I stopped caring and... that's been for a couple of years now." he answered. "When I was younger, I always imagined that it would reach this point and that I'd be happy about it. Now, I wouldn't really use the word 'happy' but I'm content and I haven't felt this sane in a long time. Not that I really have much of a reference to work off of."

"I find that hard to believe. I mean, if you don't mind me saying, but..." Shinobu started, looking as though he was hesitating with his words for a moment. "You look terrible."

"You mean I look like shit." Ishida corrected; watching as the other man nodded briefly afterwards. "That's quite alright, I already know. I've looked like this for the past few days- I'm surprised Milianne didn't mention something about it."

"That name doesn't ring a bell, so perhaps that's why I haven't heard the news." the man replied. "Is there a reason?"

That was the million dollar question right there.

He couldn't even think of something to tell the man- not even a lie that could've been based off of what was really true. What was he supposed to say? 'Nothing more than my possible, pending death coming up?' The last thing he needed was a trip to the Psych Ward. He shrugged slightly in answer. "I can't really say that there is a reason. Life goes through these up and down moments and right now mine is going straight into the ground with no explanation or purpose."

"Is that why you sent that invitation?"

"Hm? Oh no, that was far before this." he replied, now kicking himself for choosing such a weak explanation- if he could even call it that. "I don't really think this is a topic we need to be discussing right now. There's still plenty of other things we need to go over and we can see if some of the more... colorful employees have shown up so you can understand my warning from before."

Shinobu looked as though he was going to object but apparently decided against it last minute and simply chose to follow him back inside.

He couldn't afford to screw this up; he had to be more careful.

The way back towards the front of the hospital was less entertaining as it had been the first time through; most of the nurses were on duty and were taking care of things- he had a feeling they were only working as such because of Dr. Shinobu's presence. It didn't really bother him, as long as they were getting things done, although they were doing far more than he was at the moment. He had a feeling he was missing out on something though.

"Ishida!"

Oh no.

He needed this whole situation to go back to being stale again.

"One of your nurses?" Shinobu asked with a brief chuckle- probably at the face he made when he recognized the voice.

"Worse." Ishida answered, holding his breath as they eventually came around the corner and stepped into the corridor that would take them back towards his office. Did she talk to the others yet? No, there couldn't have nearly been enough time to discuss all the details with them. And even if she did, he doubted she'd come to work afterwards. Maybe she was still irritated about what happened last night- actually, he had no doubts that she was still pissed.

He heard the ever familiar click of her heels before he even noticed her coming down the hallway. She was dressed and suited up like always, possibly more so now than she had ever been before. That was the first sign that made him worried. Actually, the somewhat stern expression on her face was probably the first one.

He could only hope that she wouldn't make a scene.

"Good morning, Miss. Cirucci, how are you-"

"You know, sometimes I just want to put my hands around your neck and strangle the life out of you." she snapped before he could finish his sentence.

Right... he should've known better than to think she'd keep her cool.

But then he noticed the way she seemed to cut her eyes towards Dr. Shinobu and question who he was- only briefly though. It didn't take long before he watched that expression shift in the slightest.

He couldn't stop her in time.

"And other times, I want to go buy that new mattress and fuck you senseless on it."

He should just resign.

There was no recovering from this.

He cleared his throat briefly before he turned towards the older man. "Dr. Shinobu, this is Miss. Cirucci; Cirucci, this is Dr. Shinobu, he's a colleague of mine who's taking a tour of the facility."

She shot a brief grin in his direction before she turned away. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Shinobu. I'm the head secretary around here. I wish Dr. Ishida here had informed me of your visit, I would've shown up sooner."

"That's quite alright, I rather dropped in on the doctor just the same." Shinobu assured after a moment of pause- although he still seemed strangely cautious of what was going on.

"And we still have a lot to cover, so if you'll excuse us, Cirucci, we need to get back to work." Ishida quickly pushed; watching as she only smiled once more as she turned to leave.

"Well if you need anything, you know where to find me." she called back.

His skin was still itching as he watched her walk away before he ushered the other doctor onward. "We can spare a few minutes in my office and go over anything you might want to ask."

"Yes well, I certainly have a lot to ask."

He was going to kill her for this.

The keys were still sitting in the lock when they made it back to his office and he simply finished unlocking the door before he pushed it open; allowing Dr. Shinobu to walk in first before he followed. "I already know what you're going to ask." he started as he pulled the door closed behind them. "And let me answer that before you say anything. Miss. Cirucci... is my fiance." he almost had to force out the words and hated that he used them as an excuse.

"Oh? You should've introduced her as such." Shinobu replied as he took a seat in front of his desk. "She's uh... got quite a personality to her."

"We're trying to keep it on the down low until we get all the details worked out." Ishida continued. "As for her personality... she's certainly one of a kind. I'm sorry you had to hear what you did; she usually speaks her mind whenever she wants and doesn't care for who's listening."

"Well, it was quite a shock, but don't worry about apologizing, in this profession, you pretty much see everything."

How true that was.**  
**


End file.
